On Saturday evening, in front of the live ESPN TV cameras, Andre Villas-Boas will head out at Stamford Bridge for his first home game for his new club. However, after a 0-0 draw last weekend at Stoke City, the pressure is already on.
He has a lot to live up to; the corresponding fixture last season was also the Blues’ first game at the Bridge of the campaign and Carlo Ancelotti’s side romped to a 6-0 rout.
‘Last year was an excellent result and we have two games at home now and we must do everything in our power to get three points from each of them,’ said Villas-Boas today, at his pre-match press conference.
‘A total of seven points can get us into a good position but West Brom as we saw last week presents a very difficult challenge because they held Man United, the Champions League finalists, up to the 80th minute.’
‘They had a couple of good chances and they favour good football, they play short and quick in between them which is something important for the spectacle, so it is a difficult game for us.’
The man in the opposite dugout on Saturday will be Roy Hodgson, a manager Villas-Boas admitted to having much admiration for. However, the man on the receiving end last year will be sitting in the opposing dugout this weekend.
‘I think Robbie [di Matteo] is too depressed about the result last season to talk about it,’ said Villas-Boas with a smile.
‘We just had some banter about it but he is now on this side and he just wants to win, like we all do. Of course it will be emotional for him seeing people he is close to. For sure he will salute those people.’
It was a mixed bag on the injury front, as Villas-Boas reported on Petr Cech’s knee ligament injury that will keep him out for up to a month. He also had an update on David Luiz, who had barely trained since returning from Copa America duty with Brazil:
‘David Luiz can’t make a return yet but it is nothing too dramatic. Next week he will be joining us because he already had a light session today and he will come back next week to full training, so it will be a step-by-step recovery for him.’
Michael Essien is the only other player that the manager is without after the agent of John Obi Mikel, whose father is involved in a kidnap situation back in his native Nigeria, indicated the midfielder would continue to play.
‘At this time it is his intention to play for Chelsea against West Brom this weekend, encouraged by his family to do so,’ he said.
Inevitably, with a little over a fortnight to go before the summer transfer window slams shut, questioning turned towards the Blues’ targets for the remaining two weeks and those that might be departing.
With Romelu Lukaku’s deal being finally wrapped up today, most of the talk centred on Luka Modric, the Tottenham midfielder.
‘We have approached Tottenham before regarding the player,’ answered AVB. ‘I don’t know if it’s viable or not and to what extent we can go regarding his price because we are speaking about a high amount and nothing else basically. End of story.’
‘Whatever comes from Harry’s mind is his own opinion about the situation. I just have to study the rest of the market and hopefully find a solution for my team.’
However, he was more adamant about the future of his own players, namely Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba.
‘Drogba is one of the most important and representative players of the club and his willingness to continue is 100 per cent,’ he explained. ‘It will be because of that that we will reach an agreement [on a new deal].’
Meanwhile, he flatly denied reports that Anelka wants a transfer after the arrival of Lukaku. One area he seemed to be fascinated with was the sheer number of players he and the club were being linked with as transfer mania in the press picked up.
‘Neymar, (Samir) Nasri – how many names have been linked with Chelsea in the past and they didn’t come? In our operations, in whatever we do or not in the market, we try to keep it as silent as possible.’
One aspect Villas-Boas wasn’t silent on last week was on the pushing and shoving he witnessed throughout the game at the Britannia last weekend. While the media have attempted to conjure a war of words between him and Stoke boss Tony Pulis, however, their attempts have been unsuccessful:
‘The reporting of my words was extremely unfair to what I said. I had a stance of saying the pushing and the shoving was in both boxes and that the referee needed help, and I was not complaining.’
‘Fortunately enough the Stoke manager is a sensible person and admitted what I said is completely different to how it was written. It is a physical game and it will happen in any box in the Premier League so we just have to deal with it.’
As well as dealing with that, he’ll have to deal with the absence of his No.1 goalkeeper on Saturday as the Baggies bounce in to West London. Being thrown in at the deep end, springs to mind!
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