By dixon9
March 4 2007

Late afternoon kick-off for us tomorrow with lunchtime spent anxiously watching the game at Anfield. Chelsea supporters find themselves in the uncomfortable position of wanting the scousers to win tomorrow.

Any fears we may have had with regard to Benitez fielding a side with one eye on their clash against Barca in the week were dismissed when Gerrard stated during a radio interview that the Liverpool team were not prepared to possibly hand the Old Trafford side the Premier League title at Anfield.

In my opinion, even if the Mancs win tomorrow it’s still not over – they are notorious for tripping over lesser sides when you least expect it.  We should concentrate on winning our games, although of course I may have to buy my mate Adam, a staunch red, a pint or two if they do pull off a win – something which I understand they haven’t done since 2001.

So, to the matter in hand:

Portsmouth have their share of problems with Mendes and Lauren out and of course, our Glenn who is on loan to them.  To make matters worse for them, O’Neil and Davis are 50/50.  Hughes will get his third start in the Portsmouth shirt to fill the gap created by Mendes and Parrot will substitute Johnson.

Despite their problems we´ll have to keep an eye on LuaLua.

We still obviously have Boulahrouz and Joe Cole out, Mikel is suspended due to the handbags with Arsenal last weekend and I don´t think Terry will be risked.  Terry has had a series of scans for the concussion suffered in the Carling Cup Final, but even so, his ankle WASN´T healed anyway.  The absence of Terry almost certainly signifies Essien at centre-half alongside Carvalho which unfortunately means missing his driving power in midfield.   IF we do go ahead and things look comfortable I’d like to see someone else fill in at centre-half and put Essien in midfield where he belongs.

Interesting to see what Jose does tomorrow re Bridge and the about to return Ashley Cole.

 

Pompey (from): James, Primus, Campbell, Traoré, Pamarot, Hughes, O'Neil, Krancjar, Taylor, LuaLua, Kanu, Ashdown, Stefanovic, O'Brien, Davis, Mvuemba, Benjani, Douala, Cole, Todorov.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Ferreira, Diarra, Geremi, Bridge, A Cole, Carvalho, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Makelele, Robben, Shevchenko, Morais, Drogba, Kalou, Wright-Phillips.

 I reckon we’ll go 4-4-2:  Cech, Diarra, Essien, Carvalho, A Cole, Makelele, Lampard, Ballack, Robben, Shevchenko and Drogba.

Prediction:  Us to win 1-3.  Scorers: Shevchenko, Ballack and Robben. Kanou for them.