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Money, Chelsea have
found out in the last two weeks cannot solve all problems. It can be a
defence, but for the last two matches, Chelsea have scored zero goals
with the inclusion of £50m striker, Fernando Torres. One point from six
in the league and Saturday’s FA Cup is a good distraction for the
Blues. But their opponents, Everton have been known to be party
poppers, especially at Stamford Bridge, where they have not lost in the
last four seasons.

In Lois Saha, Coach
David Moyes has a player who thrives against the London side and loves
scoring against them. Saha has scored seven goals against Chelsea in
his last nine outings. His personal duels with John Terry have seen the
Frenchman getting the better of his English counterpart on more than
one occasion. Saturday’s game thus affords both sides the chance to put
behind dire performances in the league and concentrate on going far in
the Cup competitions. For Everton, it is the only route into Europe for
next season; and for Chelsea, defending champions, they need to get
back in form to get back into the top four of the Premier League.

Carlo Ancelotti is
still trying to fashion out a formula that will accommodate both Didier
Drogba in attack for the Blues while not throwing the tactical
discipline out of sync. For the draw against Fulham, Ancelotti dropped
Drogba from the start to allow Torres show his worth but the World Cup
winner looked lost on occasions and the famous first touch was also
missing. Ancelotti had told his squad there would be a lot of rotation
to keep his side fresh. “I don’t know if Didier was happy, but every
player knows every game is important,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. We
wanted to rotate to maintain his condition and to give everyone great
motivation. Maybe in the next game we will use both.”

Despite the glaring
misses, the Italian was of the opinion that Torres improved against
Fulham. “Fernando played well,” Ancelotti said. “He had some
opportunities in the first half and I took him out just to use Didier
fresh and with power. That’s the only reason I changed him. His
performance was better than that against Liverpool.”

A battle that will
be fought on the pitch will be between Seamus Coleman, Everton’s right
winger, who has come in leaps and bounds against Ashley Cole, regarded
by many as the best left-back in the world. They have already met twice
this season with the young Englishman doing quite well. “It’s what you
want as footballer, you want to play against the best players in the
world,” he said. “I’ve played against him a couple of times already
this season, it’s always good to play against him and I go into the
game on Saturday hoping to get the upper hand. He has a lot of
experience, he’s played at the top for a long time, he’s very fit and
he knows the game well, it’s very hard to get the ball past him.”
Chelsea beat Everton 2-1 in the 2009 FA Cup final and will certainly
have the edge considering their lack lustre performance against Bolton
in their last league match.

La Liga – Cutting the lead to two points

Suddenly, Jose
Mourinho is sniffing for the La Liga title after Barcelona were held
1-1 by Sporting Gijon and Real won 1-0 with ten men against Espanyol.
On Saturday, he will pitch his record of not losing a home game in the
league, which has now extended to nine years, against a Levante side
that is in 15th position. Though Emmanuel Adebayor squandered three
chances to make the win at Espanyol more comfortable, he is still
expected to start and lead the attack. 24-goal man, Cristiano Ronaldo,
will also be in the mood to increase his goals haul in the league – in
setting the record for the Rojiblancos for most goals in one season.
“Real Madrid never stop fighting and we never forget the values we are
defending,” sporting director Jorge Valdano said after the heroic 1-0
victory in Barcelona. “We are going to fight to win all of the
competitions – we’re prepared for that because the mood is good.”

Serie A – Breathing down the neck of Milan

The fortunes of
Inter Milan have turned around dramatically just eight weeks after
Rafael Benitez was relieved of his job and the reins handed over to
Leonardo. With just one loss in nine, Inter have re-awakened their
pursuit of another Scudetto; and with the 2-1 away win over Fiorentina
on Wednesday, the Nerazzurri are now five points behind leaders and
neighbours, AC Milan. If they beat Cagliari tomorrow, they will have
cut the gap to two points with AC Milan to play on Sunday. Inter won
the reverse fixture despite racist taunts by Cagliari fans and it was
fitting that Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o scored the only goal on 39
minutes; and to celebrate, the Cameroon captain mocked those who had
abused him by imitating a monkey. You can be sure that there will not
be any monkey business on Saturday.