With hindsight Chairman Ken did okay by us and will probably do okay by you lot as well. He held us together until someone with more money could take us to the next level, which is all you can ask for given the asset stripping sharks in the game at the moment. If someone comes along who can take you guys further I think he'll move on gracefully and you'll come out in better shape than when he took over.

I felt for Luiz as he was trying to make something happen and Oscar or Lampard should be dropping back when he goes forward (or Bertrand coming in to cover), but they just seemed to watch him go. Torres underwhelmed and his sulky face is doing my head in even after his tap in goal. Moses looked a lot better than on Sunday, he's not afraid to shoot or have a go and just needs a bit more discipline and decision making to become something special. All in all, happy with the result and the glimmer of passion shown by the team. Really surprised we ended up with 11 on the field as M Brown was being his usual dirty self and everyone was getting their kicks and trips in.

No mention of your Europa League match? I see you got Sparta Prague, that should be you progressing then.

Who knows with us, we're hardly consistent at the moment. Nice draw for us compared to some, but we are capable of losing to anyone (flip side is we're also capable of beating anyone).

If you do beat Sparta, then in the next round a potential couple of games with Ajax are on the cards, which will be a good watch (well for the neutral anyway! ).

It's hard to know what a 'top draw' actually is out of that lot, but I reckon a trip to Prague is not far off it...and I'm sure you can beat them over two legs. Anyone want to moan about it and they should contemplate a trip to St Petersburg.

St Petersburg is a beautiful city, shame about the fans. Prague is definitely the better trip

I think we have a decent shot at winning the Europa league (as long as we make signings in January) and I hope we go for it to make up for our shitty season so far. That said Athletico are around and we know what they did to us - at least gives us a potential shot at revenge.

One good thing is that we are comfortably beating crap teams, apart from the World Club final we've scored 17 in four games so that bodes well for our top four hunt.

Thats because hardly any of us are interested.

Indeed. Everything is a bit dull after winning the biggest pot of them all.

Okay, no worries, I guess it is all a bit, "After the Lord Mayors Show", for you at the moment isn't it?

True mate. It may grow on us later but certainly not now.

I'd take another League or FA Cup over this crapper than crap Europa League tin pot crap!!!.

Once upon a time there was a perfectly good second teir Euro trophy that was well worth winning. So why did they have that go and replace it with this?

Can't say I'm overly excited about it, but we're in it now. I'd rather not see more of the spineless/uninterested performances that we've already seen 3 times this season. Should always be unacceptable, no matter the competition.

Their were 3 Euro trophys once.

Villa today. Not confident at all. Really hate playing them.

Sturridge is apparently having his Liverpool medical today, and FSW has confirmed that we will look to bring in more strikers in January. Lukaku also said he hoped to be at West Brom next season as well

Typical English attitude to the Europa League. I would love to win this competition.

Some people fail to notice that this is the competition that put Falcao into the spotlight.

I felt the same way a few weeks ago, but looking at the line up there's some great names in the Europa League. Inter, Benfica, Atletico, Ajax, Lazio, Napoli, and Liverpool of course.
Maybe they're teams that haven't done much recently, but the names bring back memories.

According to a Belgian team mate Hazzard wants to go and play for Real Mardid.
While he has hid odd moments, he's hardly living up to the hype that surrounded him before he came so i wouldn't be that bothered if he did go.

I think he's had more than a few "odd moments". He's a terrific player who can only get better. I would hate to see us lose one of our "magic" trio. Moses is good, but not in the same class as Hazard in my opinion. And as for Marin..it remains to be seen what he has to offer.

I'm being dragged out to visit relatives, so will miss this afternoon's game. Looking foward to reading reports on here later from all the usual suspects.

Would be silly to let Hazard go so early after investing £30m in him. Cant see him leaving anytime soon, he is still very young and has loads of potential. Maybe in a few years he might end up at Real Madrid like Robben did though. I think hes been ok, a bit hit and miss, but he is the type of player we have lacked for years ever since Robben left. He will only get better too, which is great news for us. I think hes adapting pretty well to the premier league, remember he is only 21 and has only been in England for half a season.

Mata has been the player of the season so far, perhaps in the whole league. Brilliant player, he has been the creator of everything for us. I still think if we can get Terry back and buy another striker in Jan we can still be right up there with Man City/Man Utd. I think the titles gone but we need to push on and make sure we finish 3rd. Winning the league cup / a good run in the Europa league would be a bonus. Once Terry is back, i would quite happily have Luiz in midfield, he could well sort out our midfield problems, and we wont have to spend a fortune on Fellaini until the summer. I also think we should recall Lukaku in January, if Sturridge is leaving. Then we would have decent cover and options upfront if we had Torres/Lukaku/Falcao or Higuian.

Im reasonably confident we will beat Villa today, we really have to. These are the games we should be winning comfortably.

Would love to see a starting lineup in January of:

Cech
Azpi Ivan Terry Cole
Luiz Lampard(Ramires)
Oscar Mata Hazard
Falcao

How amazing would that be!

Chelsea team v Aston Villa: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole, Azpilcueta, Luiz, Lampard, Mata, Hazard, Moses, Torres

Luiz in midfield then? Belter!

I'm not convinced that Hazard will be here more than 2 seasons...we'll be luck to get 3. I just hope we make the right signings in January/the summer and that we can actually build a team that will get the best of him while he's here. It would be a massive shame to have him here for 2-3 years without seeing the player we know he can be, only for him to go to Real/Barca and rip the opposition to shreds on a weekly basis.


Mata is a player I can see here for many years to come.

Luiz in midfield. Excellent.

Looking at Villa's line-up I could only tell you about 2 players. Can't believe how nervous this game is making me.