Chelsea vs Portsmouth | The FA Cup Final

Ready to make some history, eh? Let me be honest with you. I’m not too much into this double of premier league title and an FA cup title. A double of premier league and champions league would be something very special. I’m not undermining the importance and challenge of winning an FA cup title by any means. It’s a great effort to win the FA cup when you are also draining mentally and physically with premier league exploits. It’s just this double does not sound as big to me as it’s made out. The one thing this double reiterates is Chelsea’s dominance in the domestic level. When a team wins the premier league and the FA cup, that’s a conclusive proof of their superiority in the country.

I’ve bee saying in this blog for many weeks now that FA cup was not the priority at all when the premier league was yet to be won. Hindsight says we have managed both these pursuits very well. Now that we are in a final, against Portsmouth, you just have to go there and win it and call it a double. In terms of desire, both teams could be equally passionate about winning ‘this’ trophy. Portsmouth wants to win this trophy so they can end this wretched season on a high. Having been relegated, they have the opportunity to topple the premier league champions (oh yeah, that’s us, Chelsea!) while they’re walking out the door.

Chelsea wants to win this title so they can be 7th team ever achieving this for the 11th time in English football history. The rarity does make it a great feat but I still wonder why has it happened on only so few occasions. By winning the double, Chelsea can formally announce that Jose Mourinho’s ghosts have been exorcised. In the past few seasons, Chelsea haven’t spent much in the market. In fact, Chelsea has ended up spending less than clubs like Spurs and Sunderland. This double would also be a great re-instatement of fact that we have a great squad already. And the double means more purchasing power for Carlo Ancelotti.

I’m excited to see Carlo winning things and thereby getting a free hand on whom to buy and whom to sell. As subtly put by Ron Gourlay, Roman would still like to question and challenge transfers, not with an intention to approve or disapprove, but just to ensure that they all agree on what’s good for the club and that they are on the same page. Ancelotti winning the double in his first season in England makes him the Don here. That means more respect, more freedom and more control. So, winning the double could be a fantastic finish for an outstanding season for Carlo.

The season’s not over, the world cup has not started but the transfer rumours are all over the place – Ashley Cole to Barcelona, Essien to Real Madrid, Ibrahimovic to Chelsea, Fernando Torres to Chelsea etc. You can know my views on the transfer rumours and possibilities on www.twitter.com/bluechampion. As I’m on twitter practically all the time, I’ll also break news as soon as they are available from any source. Okay, let’s get back to the finals.

Apart from toppling the champions on their last day of a relegated season, Pompey’s other motivation could be that Grant would like his little revenge over Roman. We saw Jose Mourinho doing one over Roman in the champions league. Grant would love to do the same. What’s more satisfying for Grant than beat Roman’s champions with his relegated side in cup final? I think Pompey dream run would come to a sad end on Saturday, just like what happened to Fulham this week. I fully believe Chelsea would win and win emphatically. With Chelsea in this form, ‘cupsets’ just don’t happen. I know Grant is one lucky manager (not a snide remark but a statement of fact) but the match would not be decided on these moments. The moments of luck can only tilt the matches that are even. I think Chelsea would dominate the proceedings on the pitch and the scoreline would exactly reflect that.

Would I play the youngsters? No way, not until the match is secured. Having come this far, this is no time for experiments. We have great talents but tomorrow we’ve got a job to do. If we get to a stage of comfort like we got against Wigan last weekend, I’d surely bring in youngsters to get the feeling and experience of being at the Wembley in a cup final. These are moments that connect the young players more to the club and the team. We have a first team that can do the job in the first half so I think we’d see some young players or Carlo can sentimentally allow certain players to make their last appearance or such stuff.

So what’s the worrying thing for me this Saturday? It’s not Terry’s fitness (or his father’s confession), it’s not Chelsea’s complacency, it’s not Avram’s ass, it’s indeed the Wembley pitch. With world cup around in a few weeks, and a rain forecast for Saturday, we don’t want to lose anyone for injuries because of this bad Wembley pitch. The one good thing about Wembley is, Didier Drogba is gonna score.

Chelsea will be deemed the home team for this match and hence will wear blue while Portsmouth will play with white shirts and pink shorts (whoever thought of it!). So there’s a good news for you (while I want to hide the bad news that Chris Foy would be officiating this match). Those who are psyched out at the lovely dark away kit of ours can sleep peacefully tonight as we line up in blue. Let’s gear up for the last piece of action from the Champions (oh yeah, that’s us again). Sorry if I’m arrogant, I think we will win this one 4-0. If Drogba scores them all, he reaches the 40-goal mark for this season. Any bets on this? Let’s go do it. The Champions for The Double!