Not only was the game and the result shite against Norwich at the weekend but we lost Frank Lampard to injury as well and yesterday we were hearing that whilst the rest of the squad went off to Spain, Frank hasn’t gone with them.

Our midfielder has stayed behind to undergo scans on a suspected torn calf muscle after the injury sustained in the first half against Norwich on Saturday’s early game.  If all goes well he could join up with the squad at the training camp but if not – well we know life is hard enough at Chelsea without that!

We’ve only just sent McEachran off on loan, so our options are a little limited and whilst Essien has made a return, he’s some way off the sort of Michael Essien we’d like to see on the pitch at the minute – worse still, if he ends up playing like the imposter who pretended to be the Bison last seasn – we’re buggered!

Better hope Frank’s scans come back clear eh?

With the rest of the weekend’s games following our early 0-0 draw against Norwich throwing us a bit of a lifeline, it wasn’t as disastrous as it could’ve been in the end and with the exception of Lampard’s injury, we got off lightly.  Here’s a round-up of the reviews:

Mail online go for the predictable scapegoat

Talksport thought it was a Ruddy good show

There’s opposition perspective from It’s Round & It’s White

The official CFC site bring us a no nonsense report

And as usual Goal.com give is their player ratings

Ok, it’s your weekly fix of stats, predictions and whatever else you want to know about us compared to the latest opposition. As ever, you need to get yourself over to KickOff, so click here.

Venue: Carrow Road

Date: Saturday, 21 January

Kick-off: 1245 GMT

Eleven points away from the top of the table, so we might be relieved that it’s a trip to Carrow Road today. Mind you, it is an early kick-off so we’ll just have to hope that doesn’t throw our players too far out of kilt.

Not that Norwich will necessarily be a walk in the park anyway – we’ve blown no-one away for a while and actually, they haven’t exactly rolled over themselves.  But if we’re going to keep clawing in some points then today has to be regarded as one of the better opportunities to do that, so let’s hope we do just that.

MANAGERS’ VIEWS

Going into today’s early kick-off, Norwich boss Paul Lambert says “We are playing one of the best teams in Europe, but we had a really good game against them at Stamford Bridge in August and we’ll give it everything we’ve got to try and win.  They are a top, top side but we’re at home so we’ll try to go out there and win.  The confidence has never wilted here. The crowd will be buoyant and they will be expecting a good game. Chelsea are a top side but we’ve earned the right to play them.”

Andre Villas-Boas meanwhile, says “It’s a great pleasure when teams achieve something with a certain style.  Victories are important for motivation, the way they play is very positive, they are fully motivated players with complete commitment to their manager and each other.  They have had an excellent run of results, and they continue to surprise established teams in the league, which shows the value of the work Paul and his team are doing.  We need to find consistency in our own performances, it will be better if we beat Norwich, but I don’t care what happens in the other matches this weekend, we need to do our own job first and foremost.”

SQUAD NEWS

For Norwich, Rudd (knee) is out and Vaughan, Ward (both knee) and Tierney (groin) are all back in training but not yet ready for a return.

For Chelsea, Mikel (hamstring) is out although Ivanovic returns, Essien is also back in contention after his return last week and new signing Gary Cahill could make his debut although is unlikely to start.

TEAMS

NORWICH (from): Ruddy, Martin, Whitbread, Ayala, Naughton, Johnson, Tierney, Fox, Pilkington, Crofts, Surman, Hoolahan, Morison, Jackson, Holt, Steer, Drury, Bennett, Wilbraham, Tierney, Lappin, Barnett.

CHELSEA (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Romeu, Lampard, Ramires, Essien, Mata, Malouda, Meireles, Torres, Sturridge, Lukaku, Turnbull.

LAST MEETING

Chelsea 3-1 Norwich (27^th August 2011)

PREDICTION

A routine away win for us today maybe? Unlikely there’ll be anything routine about it given our inconsistencies this season to be honest.  Given our haul of cards so far this season, it could well be a case of racking up more bookings than goals in this one although our saving grace could be the Canaries’ apparent inability to keep clean sheets.

You know it’s a slow transfer window when the reports are about us signing 12 and 13 year olds!

Or is it? Because firstly, these lads could end up costing us £1m, which is pretty big in itself but more significant than that is probably the fact they’re brothers.

Twins Rio and Cole Dasilva, 12, as well as their 13-year-old brother Jay have joined us from Luton Town having spent the past five years there. We’re alleged to have paid a five-figure sum for each of them and the deal could top £1m if they make it into the first team.

Luton head of youth Gregg Broughton confirms “This is a historic deal to see three brothers transferred together.  Following our loss in the play-offs last season we were told that the boys wished to look at other options, as was their prerogative to do so.  And now after six months of uncertainty, we are delighted that they have found a club where they are settled and one that recognises the development work that Luton Town have put in over the last five years.”

Nicolas Anelka was the first to go, with a move to Shanghai Shenhua.  We’ve finally completed the signing of Gary Cahill from Bolton and yesterday saw two loan deals, with  Josh McEachran going to Swansea and Patrick van Aanholt to Vitesse Arnhem.

Still going on is a potential move for Alex, with Chelsea having given QPR permission to talk to the defender.  And on the rumour front, we continue to be linked with the possible signing of Eden Hazard. Lille, however insist the player is going nowhere before the end of the season.

Meanwhile, any potential approach from Arsenal for Salomon Kalou is rumoured to have also been shelved until the summer.  Kalou, as we know is out of contract at the end of the season and has talked up his ‘dream’ of playing for the North London club in the past although recent reports suggest there’ll be nothing happening on that front in this transfer window.