Put simply, Chelsea cannot afford to loose any of our next three matches.
After the madness of the January transfer window and a less than ideal period following the arrival of our new signings, the club is about to embark on a series of fixtures that will go a long way towards deciding if this season will be looked upon as a successful one.
Everton away has long been a fixture that has disappointed Chelsea supporters, and it wasn’t surprising that the Merseysiders held out for a draw at Goodison Park to push our FA Cup tie into a replay at Stamford Bridge.
The team will have to be firing on all cylinders today if it wants to advance in the cup. Everton will be extremely eager to put us to the sword, and their 6,000 supporters at the bridge will expect them to fight tooth and nail for the victory.
Fernando Torres and David Luiz are unavailable for the fixture, and the spotlight will be firmly fixed on Didier Drogba.
Didier and Fernando both performed poorly together up front against Liverpool, and Carlo Ancelotti subsequently reverted to a single striker formation against Fulham.
It appears quite likely that the two strikers will be rotated up front for the rest of the season, and it is vital that Didier doesn’t feel aggrieved by the arrival of a challenger to his status as the clubs primary striker.
Carlo Ancelotti has spoken about collaboration rather than competition between the two strikers this week.
The fact remains, however, that unless he can engineer a viable formation to include both of them in an extremely short amount of time, the two target men will indeed be competing for the single starting spot.
David Luiz has embarrassingly been touted as a starter against Everton for the last week, with Carlo Ancelotti even including him in his provisional squad for the match, despite the fact that he is ineligible as he was signed after the first leg.
Bizarre.
Branislav Ivanovic will slot in at his preferred centre back position, with Paulo Ferreira being brought in to start at right back.
No club has won three FA Cups in a row since Blackburn Rovers over a century, and as such we have an opportunity to achieve something quite unique in modern English football history.
A loss today would be a big dent to the confidence of the squad, and that could have very damaging implications.
Tuesday sees a return to action in Europe, with an away trip to FC Copenhagen.
Chelsea supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief when we drew the Danish club out of the pot in December, however we can’t approach the fixture with complacency. The club currently leads the Danish Superliga by 19 points.
Fernando Torres will be eligible for the fixture, but David Luiz will miss it. Paulo Ferreira will likely be under the microscope as he steps into the breach at right back.
A victory against the Danes will take the pressure off for the return leg at Stamford Bridge next month. The second fixture comes just days ahead of a crucial premier league clash with Manchester City.
Next Monday the visit of league leaders Manchester United is on the cards, if we don’t beat Everton in the FA Cup and force the tie to be rescheduled until the end of the season.
The match was postponed due to the snow that blanketed England in December, and it will be the first of two league fixtures against Ferguson’s men this season.
For the past few weeks a number of Chelsea supporters, myself included, looked towards the double header against United as a chance to mount a late challenge for the premiership title.
Subsequent events however, mean that any chances of a comeback in the league are completely gone.
It seems incredible for us, our position in Europe’s elite competition has been more or less entrenched since 2003, but this year we will face a tough fight with Tottenham for the fourth spot.
A loss against United would jeopardize our chances of making it into the competition next season. It goes without saying that the financial implications of such a scenario would be disastrous.
In the event that we do get through to the next round of the FA Cup, we’ll be facing Reading in the fifth round on Monday night and will have to wait until May to take on the reds at home.
We cannot understate the importance of the next three fixtures. Three victories would re-energize and reinvigorate the players and the fans.
Three defeats would make the ‘bad moment’ look relatively mundane.
The pressure is well and truly on!
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