Mentally Maiming Mourinho's Mug

Blackburn 0 - Chelsea 1

I think this just about does it. I am now completely resigned to the fact that Chelsea is going to run away with this season's Premiership title. Aaargh - why does their manager have to be that smug, cocky SOB? I see his face on TV and I feel an urge to hurl something at it just to wipe off that trademark smirk.

My only hope lies now with Liverpool, Newcastle and Barcelona, who will face Chelsea in the Cup competitions. As long as Chelsea remains in the running for that unprecendented quadruple, Mourinho's snide over-confidence could really go into serious overdrive.

I don't have much hope of Liverpool pulling off a victory, so I think at very least, Chelsea will win the Carling Cup and be Double Champions (although it's a Double of less prestige than the League-FA Cup one).

Newcastle could pull off a surprise, although I think the odds still favour Chelsea on this one. Of course, it is the FA Cup, which is the competition for shocks and upsets, so there could be hope yet. I hope Shearer has a good run these next couple of weeks before the FA Cup tie on Feb 20th. The mess over Craig Bellamy looks to be resolved for now, although Souness did have some rather unkind parting words about Bellamy's strike record. I often wonder, though, whether all these dramatic events are the product of the media's hype and whether any of it is as distracting to the club, as it appears to be from the public's perspective. In any case, if Newcastle cannot pull off the upset, it's still only the 5th round, and there are other teams in the way of the domestic Triple.

The Barcelona vs Chelsea match-up in the Champs League is intriguing. I am not calling it for Barca yet, despite their stellar form in La Liga. Much as I dislike Mourinho, his team has been playing the way championship teams usually play; with flashes of irresistable brilliance, and when required, with grit and uncompromising resolve to pull off hard-fought victories. These are 2 teams that know how to win, so it could be close. Of course, in footballing terms, I hope it is the uninhibited Barca that turns up and plays their throw-caution-to-the-wind all-out-attacking game. Chelsea's Petr Cech has just set a record for hours without conceding a goal (beating Schmeichel's old mark), so I wonder how Barca would fare against this defence.