<span class="titolo">Prem Preview: Chelsea-Blackburn Rovers</span></p> <span class="sommario">What: Premier League Who: Chelsea (4th, 10/15pts) v Blackburn Rovers (7th, 8/12pts) When: Saturday, 15 September, 2007, kick-off 17:15 local (BST) Where: Stamford Bridge, London</span></p> The Unbeatables!</p> One side will probably lose their respective unbeaten status. Chelsea have gone 65 games without defeat at home whereas Rovers are unbeaten in 10 league games, and are unbeaten in 14 games in all competitions. Blackburn are also among the likes of Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool who have also gone unbeaten so far this season.</p> Best v Worst</p> Rovers have made their best start to the Premier League since 2001. Chelsea have made their worst start to the league in five years, after registering just ten points in half as many games.</p> Premiership Head To Head</p> In the Premiership, both home and away, Blackburn have more wins to their name than Chelsea with 11 wins to Rovers, 8 wins to Chelsea and 7 draws.</p> FORM GUIDE Chelsea</p> Sep 2 v Aston Villa (A) LOST 2-0 (Prem) Aug 25 v Portsmouth (H) WON 1-0 (Prem) Aug 19 v Liverpool (A) DRAW 1-1 (Prem) Aug 14 v Reading (A) WON 2-1 (Prem) Aug 11 v Birmingham (H) WON 3-2 (Prem)</p> Blackburn Rovers</p> Sep 2 v Manchester City (H) WON 1-0 (Prem) Aug 30 v MyPa (H) WON 2-0 (Uefa Cup Q) Aug 25 v Everton (A) DRAW 1-1 (Prem) Aug 19 v Arsenal (H) DRAW 1-1 (Prem) Aug 16 v MyPa (A) WON 1-0 (Uefa Cup Q) Aug 11 v Middlesbrough (A) WON 2-1 (Prem)</p> TEAM NEWS</p> Chelsea</p> Chelsea have been unfortunate with injuries this season and this misfortune continues against Blackburn. Drogba is out with a knee problem, Ballack has a bad ankle, which has left him out of the Chelsea Champions League squad for the group stage. Both Carvalho and Lampard are doubtful with thigh injuries whilst Andriy Shevchenko will miss out with a back problem. Chelsea still do have effective replacements for many of these positions.</p> Last Starting XI (v Aston Villa): Cech, Belletti, Terry, Alex, A Cole, Wright Phillips (J Cole), Makelele (Kalou), Essien, Malouda, Obi Mikel (Pizarro), Drogba.</p> Chelsea (from): Cech, A Cole, Makelele, Essien, J Cole, Sidwell, Drogba, Obi Mikel, Pizarro, Malouda, Kalou, Ben Haim, Cudicini, Wright Phillips, Terry, Alex, Belletti, Hilario</p> Blackburn Rovers</p> Robbie Savage will be the only doubt with a leg injury. Tugay is serving a one-match ban. Blackburn have near enough a full strength squad consisting of 5 strikers. Rovers do have David Bentley as well who has returned from England duty after taking part in the recent qualifiers.</p> Last Starting XI (v Manchester City): Friedel, Emerton, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock, Bentley, Savage (Tugay), Dunn, Pedersen, Santa Cruz (Derbyshire), McCarthy (Ooijer)</p> Blackburn (from): Friedel, Ooijer, Warnock, Samba, Nelsen, Emerton, Savage, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Bentley, Pedersen, Khizanishvilli, Reid, Mokoena, Henchoz, Rigters, Dunn, Derbyshire, Olsson, Roberts, Enckelman</p> PLAYERS TO WATCH</p> Shaun Wright Phillips is almost certain to start for Chelsea. After moving from Manchester City a few years ago for a staggering 21 million pounds, the young winger failed to establish himself amongst the world class players of Chelsea. Thankfully, the talented man has found himself in the team more often of late due to injuries and he has shined on all occasions. He is lightning quick and has good technical ability. He is also a goalscorer, as shown with his goal against Israel in England’s recent qualifier, where he was one of the best players.</p> Christopher Samba is the unsung Rovers hero far too often. He is extremely solid at the back along with partner and skipper Ryan Nelsen. However it is his aerial threat, which entertains as he often gets into the box for corners and often scores. He has recently been denied goals for various fouls however he usually pops up from nowhere and ends up heading home. </p> PREDICTION </p> Mark Hughes knows that his side have a good chance to take points from Stamford Bridge, due to the vast amount of injuries in the Chelsea camp. However the Londoners do have exceptional cover players therefore shouldn’t miss injured players much. Mourinho will almost certainly complain about Blackburn’s physical approach to the game, but then again it is a tried and tested method used by Mark Hughes’s side as shown in the draw against Arsenal.</p> Chelsea will be on the back foot for parts of this game as they were against Aston Villa, due to Blackburn’s high quality attacking players, however they will almost certainly carve up a few chances. I think this will end in a draw because both teams will approach the game physically. </p> Chelsea 1 Blackburn 1</p> </p> <span>Claudio Pizarro celevrates his debut goal for Chelsea</span> </p> </p>
