The Happy One

Romelu Lukaku returns to Chelsea
Chelsea have completed the signing of striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton on a five-year contract, the club agreed a deal for former player at the beginning of July after agreeing with Everton on £32 million, and he reportedly flew into London on Tuesday to complete the transfer.


Lukaku scored 27 goals in all competitions for Everton last season

Lukaku told Chelsea's official website: "I am very happy to sign for Chelsea. Everybody knows it is a big club, and I'm thrilled to be back

"I am very excited to get started with the lads, and especially for Jose Mourinho. Having played against Chelsea last season I know the high quality of the squad I am joining.

"I would like to thank everybody at Everton who gave me the chance to get my career back on track, it was an incredible time for me, but now I am starting a new adventure and I hope to win many trophies with Chelsea."

Lukaku will join up with the first team for Chelsea's opening match of the season this weekend, the striker has also said he is looking forward to fighting Diego Costa for the main striker's role at Chelsea - and believes he will make an immediate impact back at the club.

UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw

Can Barcelona win this season's Champions League? or will holders Chelsea do what no one has done and retain the trophy

The big guns are back this season, and are all raring to get their Champions League campaigns underway in positive fashion, Last season's finalist Barcelona will be looking to go that one step further this time around and win the tournament after they were beaten by Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in the final, Enrique hasn't really strengthened the squad, only bringing in Enes Unal, Chelsea have strengthened by bringing in Romelu Lukaku and Jan Oblak.

In Group A, Juventus have invested heavily and will look to have a real go, brining in Bruno Martins Indi and Yann M'Vila, Bayern Munich have bought in 3 players, but all 3 will only be playing for the junior squads and don't look any stronger than last season.

Group B, Manchester United have decided to make the move for Falcao a permanent one and have forked out $75m for his services, whilst also signing Dante from German champions Bayern Munich, whether this is a big enough investment we'll have to wait and see

Group C, Atleti have added Juan Bernat who arrived from Bayern Munich for only $15.5m and will provide the Spaniards with some quality going forward in defence, Liverpool have splashed the cash this season so far and have brought in Jonjo Shelvey, Juan Iturbe, Costel Pantimilion, Jay Rodriguez and Bernard, costing Liverpool upwards of $90m

Group D, Real Madrid have spent big as usual as they look to bring home what they rightfully think is theirs, Kevin Volland, Max Kruse and Mateo Musacchio.

Group E, Borussia Dortmund have had a very quiet transfer window and have only signed Sebastian Rode from Munich, but have seen Aubeyamang and Mathias Ginter leave for pastures new, also fighting for top spot will be Everton who have spent very well after the sale of Lukaku to Chelsea and have signed Solomon Rondon, Dries Mertens, Luisao and Santi Cazorla as Roberto Martinez looks to build for an assault on Europe this season.

Group F, Zenit and Fiorentina will be looking to progress from group F and have both invested, Zenit have bought in talented Spaniard Pablo Sarabia, whilst Petr Cech moved from Chelsea to Viola and may face his old club, Lucas Leiva also joins from Liverpool

Group G, Many are tipping Valencia to shock a few this season, and with the permanent signing of Alvaro Negredo, anything is possible, Greek defender Kostas Minolas also joins the club from Roma.

Group H, PSG will be looking to finish the group on top and will be fighting Spaning giants Barcelona for that spot, the French club have spent $215m this season and will definitely feel confident in mounting a serious challenge this time around, Cristian Eriksen, William Carvalho, Gonzalo Higuain, Stefan De Vrij and Geoffrey Kondogbia have joined the club and areexpected to bring the Champions League to Paris


Group A
1 Juventus
2 Bayern Munich
3 Monaco
4 Metalist Kharkiv

Group B
1 Manchester United
2 Bayer Leverkusen
3 Sparta Prague
4 Kobenhavn

Group C
1 Atletico
2 Liverpool
3 Sporting Lisbon
4 Maribor

Group D
1 Real Madrid
2 PSV
3 Marseille
4 Club Brugge

Group E
1 Borussia Dortmund
2 Everton
3 Benfica
4 Slovan Bratislava

Group F
1 Chelsea
2 Zenit
3 Fiorentina
4 Hoffeinheim

Group G
1 Olympiakos
2 Galatasaray
3 Valencia
4 Dinamo Moscow

Group H
1 Barcelona
2 PSG
3 Genoa
4 APOEL

UEFA Champions League odds
Bayern Munich 3.50/1
Real Madrid 4/1
Barcelona 4/1
Juventus 8/1
Chelsea 9/1
Manchester United 10/1

1

Antoine Griezmann joins Chelsea

Antoine Griezmann has joined Chelsea where he will be expected to become a major attacking threat for José Mourinho’s team next season.


Griezmann has been a long term target for Chelsea, and finally gets his chance to shine in England

The French midfielder, currently on his way to London after international duty, moves to the Premier League after Atletico accepted an initial $48m plus add-ons, Mourinho has moved quickly to sign the French youngster after he heard that Arsenal and Manchester United had both shown interest.

“I do feel I have the ability to prove myself in the most physically demanding league in the world, but then again, football isn't won through strength, I'm here to show the world what im capable of,” said Griezmann who spent two years at Atletico after coming through the youth ranks at Real Sociedad.

Griezmann had only scored 3 goals in 22 appearances for Atletico Madrid, but Jose Mourinho obviously feels he'll be able to offer a lot more to his Chelsea side once the shackles are taken off, Griezmann did fire shots toward Diego Simeone, claiming Atleti played anti football whilst the Argentinian was in charge, he feels that with the freedom he craves he'll be able to cause mayhem in England

August & September: Chelsea begin their defence of the Premier League

High-flying Chelsea crushed West Ham with a destructive display of flowing football to make it maximum points in their first three Premier League games, West Ham's Diafro Sakho wasted an early chance but Romelu Lukaku hooked in the opener in the 17th minute to open his Chelsea account, after a cutback from Oscar.

Eden Hazard chipped a nice ball over the top for Griezmann to run onto and he dispatched it, smashing the ball into the top left corner, Eden Hazard wrapped it all up on the stroke of halftime.


Terry celebrates a massive 3 points against their London rivals

Despite having a decent start to their campaign, West Ham began the match like a team overawed in the company of their west London opponents.

On the same turf where they dumped Chelsea out of the Carling Cup last year in a penalty shoot-out, the hammers could easily have conceded three times in the opening six minutes.

The best of these chances fell to Lukaku, the lone striker, ahead of the flamboyant hazard, of manager Jose Mourinho's asymmetric system, with James Tonkins dithering on the ball, the Belgian striker stole the ball and was through on goal but after Lukaku's sloppy second touch, a relieved Adrian, impressive throughout, was able to smother the ball.

For all the confidence and swagger you would expect from a team who have not lost a league game since December last year, the hosts amazingly allowed West Ham to have two early opportunities.

Midfielder Mark Noble nicked the ball off Matic and squared the ball to Sakho who skewed his shot disappointingly wide of Peter Courtoir's right post, the Blues, though, kept piling forward with Matic and Oscar dominating the midfield and it seemed only Adrian in the sticks was the only man capable of preventing a goal.

The Spanish shot-stopper continued to take centre stage in the first-half, denying Hazard, a John Terry left-foot volley and a close-range blast from Rodriguez.

The tireless Mikel linked up well with Oscar down the right and after squaring a pass across to the back post, Lukaku, under close supervision by defender Tomkins, slid the ball in off the right post.

Rodriguez, finding room on the left, fed in Hazard who chipped over to Griezmann who rifled the ball firmly into the back of the net, With the comfort of a two-goal lead, West Ham looked shocked and with the shackles removed from the hungry Chelsea players, another goal soon arrived making it three strikes in less than 30 minutes.

Oscar was again involved and after a cute one-two, Hazard burst into the box to volley a stunning strike into the top left corner to notch his 43rd goal for his club.

West Ham boss Aitor Karanka spent the entire second half screaming at his hard-working but out-classed players, but as the match neared its finish, the lively Spaniard even found time to laugh as he watched O'Brien's clear Willian's effort off the line.

Chelsea defender John Terry:
"The overall performance, the work-rate, working for each other all over the pitch shows we are desperate to win this Premier League, "In the first half we had a lot of chances and maybe should have scored more. They made it difficult and overall I thought we were fantastic."

West Ham boss Aitor Karanka:
"Chelsea were the better side and deservedly got the three points. I was a bit disappointed," I thought we competed well but the three goals in the first half killed us".


August & September results



Barclays Premier League table

Chelsea lose twice in 10 days, but still trail Manchester United by two points

Reading striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored a late late goal to guide Reading to a shock 1-0 victory on Saturday, leaving Chelsea 4 points adrift of Manchester United, The veteran striker headed Jordan Obita' cross past Courtois with only 4 minutes remaining in the match.


Pavel Pogrebnyak celebrates giving Reading an unlikely lead

This was Chelsea's second successive away loss following a defeat at West Brom 9 days earlier, And this time there could be no grounds for Mourinho to complain about the referee. In fact, only Reading could have cause to grumble at Lee Mason's officiating, as twice in the space of two first-half minutes the referee rejected penalty claims when Gary Cahill challenged Pogrebnyak and Simon Cox.

Both might have been given in other circumstances but Reading, who were constantly opened up did not need those penalties as Chelsea failed to put away one of the 27 shots.

Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici twice denied Eden Hazard, the second a fine save when the Belgium midfielder was through one-on-one.

But Palace ended a two-match winless run with a much-needed victory that put them five points clear of the relegation zone.

October & November Results



Barclays Premier League table

Jose Mourinho in buoyant mood as Chelsea land in Algeria for FIFA Club World Cup

Diego Costa arrives in Algeria with a heroes welcome, as thousands of fans wait at the National Airport

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho resisted the temptation to rest some star players as they face Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City on their return from the Club World Cup.

The European champions overcame Stoke at the Bridge at the weekend to keep the pressure on Manchester United, who played later that day.

But Mourinho insisted Chelsea were already focusing on a different threat in the Far East and the task of winning the FIFA Club World Cup

"We have just have to get the players ready for this tournament now. We are here to win the Club World Cup. I want the players to relax and get over their fatigue properly, I am eager for my players to show the world we are not here for a holiday"

Chelsea arrived in Algeria late on Sunday having jetted out of England in the early hours of Saturday, "We will do a little sightseeing in the capital, have some traditional Algerian food in the city to adjust from the tough trip and be ready to do the job," said Mourinho.

Mourinho admitted he knew little of the potential opponents, but insists he'll sit in the hotel with the coaching staff and players to analyse all the strengths and weaknesses of their potential opponents , "Hazard and everyone are fit but we will look at team selection after studying our opponents and after looking at the players in training."

Chelsea squad for FIFA Club World Cup

Chelsea claim FIFA Club World Cup
Chelsea have booked their place in the FIFA Club World Cup final with a fairly routine win against ES Tunis from Tunisia, Chelsea took the lead in the second minute, Cesc Fabregas found Luis all alone out on the left, the Spaniard controlled the ball beautifully before cutting the ball inside to an onrushing Eden Hazard who made no mistake by smashing the ball past a stranded Enis Harrane.

Diego Costa doubled Chelsea's lead 45 seconds later as a wayward pass from Amor Hajri found Costa who took the ball around Harrane who tried to intervene and passed the ball into an empty goal. Chelsea took complete control of the match and had several chances before the break but could not further extend their lead

The second half had barely kicked off when Antoine Greizmann was given too much time on the edge of the box, he found the top corner with a sublime finish. ES Tunis did pull one back on the hour mark when Ahmed Sassi was left unmarked from a Trabelsi corner and buried a downward header past Jan Oblak, but that lead didn't last long as Loic Remy was left unmarked in the box after a little scramble, he smartly lifted the ball over the keeper and made it 4-1, Chelsea cruise into the final

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Jose Mourinho has now lifted his 5 trophy in just over a year at Chelsea, as they struggle to overcome Flamengo at the Stade Olympique Juliet

Romelu scored the only goal on 58 minutes when he reacted quickest to head home past three Flamengo players, Eduardo Silva had a chance to force extra time but fired straight at Courtois with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Chelsea should have taken an early lead when a Fabregas' corner fell to Zouma and his header was blocked by Victor, but the ball rebounded to the centre-half, whose shot was saved on the line.

Flamengo, backed by 30,000 fans who had travelled to Algeria, then had a good chance when Mikel gifted the ball to Henrique.

The Brazilian side had two attackers against two defenders but Terry, who returned to the back four after impressing in midfield in the 4-1 semi-final win against ES Tunis, showed his defensive qualities keeping them at bay.

The South American side, who won the Copa Libertadores in July, created their best chance of the first half when Samir shot across goal and the ball reached Erik, whose shot from a narrow angle hit the outside of the post.

Branislav Ivanovic, who was making his second Chelsea start since suffering a calf injury a month ago played another intelligent pass, which Hazard controlled on his knee before having his shot saved by Victor.

The Flamengo goalkeeper then tipped wide a curling effort from Greizmann and also denied Ramires as Chelsea pushed to try and find the winner.

And Chelsea went ahead midway through the second half when Hazard, collected a pass and ran into the penalty area, The chance appeared to have gone as he lost control but the ball fell to Oscar who cut inside and saw his shot loop up off a defender before, despite Flamengo having three defenders on the line, Lukaku nodded home from five yards.