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Chelsea look ahead to local derby

Chelsea will look to put a tumultuous week behind them this weekend as they go up against local rivals Fulham in the West London derby on Monday.

While the visitors will be favourites with most football betting pundits, Fulham will be buoyant after taking four points from their last two days and demolishing Tottenham 4-0 in the FA Cup.

In a week of highs and lows, Carlo Ancelotti’s men will hope they can resume normal service after falling to a 1-0 defeat at home against Liverpool.

Most of the focus surrounding the game was on new signing Fernando Torres. Having completed his switch from Liverpool to Chelsea during the January transfer window caused a stir in the Premier League; Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger both voiced their concerns about Chelsea’s £75 million spending spree and its implications for the rest of the league, especially in view of UEFA’s soon-to-be-imposed Financial Fair Play directive.

Ancelotti’s more pressing concerns will lay on the pitch however as he looks to reignite a stuttering league campaign.

Having suffered badly over November and December – picking up only one win from nine games – the Italian would have hoped they could recapture their earlier league form and reel in league leaders Manchester United.

Those regularly placing football bets will likely note that their odds to win the Premier League for third time lengthen significantly.

The defeat at Anfield leaves them ten points behind Alex Ferguson’s men in the league. In real danger of their attempts to hold on to their league title going under, Chelsea will hope to repeat the trick of overcoming Fulham following a defeat against Liverpool, as they did in November.

The Blues have emerged victorious in their last four meetings between the sides in the Premier League and will be hopeful of their new attacking trio of Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, and Fernando Torres will start to fire having struggled against Liverpool.

Former Chelsea man Mark Hughes will lead his side out at Craven Cottage with a series of injury worries. Main goal threat Bobby Zamora is still missing while centre-back Phillip Senderos looks set to miss the match.

Chelsea have no new injury worries ahead of the game and will hope their star men on International duty such as John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard will return unscathed from England’s midweek game against Denmark.

Written by TCB reader Thomas Rooney

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