There is rarely a quiet week at Chelsea and the events of the last seven days have intrigued Tuesday columnist and former Blue, Pat Nevin.


It is amazing how you can let a few little things get on top of you and before you know it you are gloomier than a Derby County supporter with a rather large bet on his team staying up.

It was all getting a bit negative down at the Bridge with the run of injuries and the African Nations Cup robbing Chelsea of half the team.

January was stretching ahead like the movie Groundhog Day, with the daily diet of worryingly similar medical reports. However the introduction of one man and the promise of one or two more has lightened the load considerably, in fact my hat is at a jauntier angle than it has been for some time.

Nicolas Anelka would not have been my first choice; there were too many concerns such as his supposed attitude problem, his likeness to Drogba in style etc. This is of course why I am not a manager of a top football club. The moment he stepped on the field it all seemed to make sense. If ever a player has been waiting for the right club it has been our new £15million man.

Now you cannot say he has underachieved in his career, he has had so many multi million pound moves, but for his ability he should have won more trophies and at some point been considered as one of the contenders for European Player of the Year.

In all honesty however, to do this you have to be at a very top club. He is at one now and he knows it is now or never to show how good he really can be at a world level and listening to his comments, I think he is up for it.

Before he arrived many of us watching were more concerned by the team's weaknesses than its strengths. Suddenly there are options again. Why were there concerns about creating enough chances this month when we have Joe Cole, Florent Malouda, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Ballack all capable of laying it on a plate for the new striker - who was always going to come anyway?

In all honesty I did think there was a need for three or four new faces during the transfer window to replace the African Nations boys, but now I am not so sure. In this column last week I thought Avram and his team would be happy to have five or six attritional 1-0 wins in the next month, and to be fair the victory over Spurs was not all flair, but maybe that is doing the side a slight disservice.

There is still enough there to go and take most Premier League sides apart, starting with Birmingham on Saturday.

Talking about creative players, once again Juliano Belletti showed that being a right full back is no reason not to consider yourself an attacking option. Another screamer of a goal underlined his ability in the opponents half. Okay, so he is Brazilian, but really, when he finds himself one-on-one against the opposition left back, he has more feints and tricks than many out-and-out wingers as well possessing plenty of pace.

In fact any player who has the willingness and the speed to overlap and get beyond SWP deserves a medal and maybe a couple of days off to recover.

The festive period usually provides a few answers, not necessarily who will win the league, more who probably will not. Liverpool have been all but shaken off, leaving just Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United. The three contenders are each away from home this weekend at Birmingham, Fulham and Reading respectively with the Gooners arguably under most pressure having seen their lead at the top fritter away and finally disappear at the weekend.

Maybe this weekend will see Anelka's first start for Chelsea against Alex McLeish's men and hopefully his first goal as well. In the longer term there is the question of whether it will be Nic or Didier or both together up front.

From the outside it doesn't look like a classic partnership, but the new boy is talking it up and it just might click.

If it does work it could be a devastating strike force, with Kalou and Sheva ready to provide further options. Most defences struggle to cope with Drogba on his own, add Anelka's power and intelligent running in behind, along with his predatory instincts, then you start asking yourself if there are a better couple of strikers in the league?

On top of this is the ex Bolton man's availability for the Everton semi-final next week. It was one of the first pieces of business done during the transfer window, in the end it may turn out to be the best.

Last week I asked a tricky little question. How many competitive games did Chelsea lose during 2007? Most went for either five or six, confused as to whether the Community Shield counts as a competitive game. As a kind individual I decided to accept both answers.

The winner chosen at random by the incredible sulk from Scotland was Ron Marchalonis in Las Vegas who wins a Cup Kings DVD review of last season, maybe the only thing he will win in that particular city this week.

To win a copy of Chelsea - The Official Biography this week, could you tell me, to the nearest million, how much money has been spent on transfer fees on Nicolas Anelka over the years? Answers as ever to pat.nevin@chelseafc.com

As a footnote the defeats in 2007 were;

Liverpool (Premier League) at Anfield 2-0
Liverpool (Champions League) semi-final at Anfield 1-0 then lost out on penalties
Community Shield to Man Utd 1-1 then lost on penalties
Lost away to Aston Villa 2-0
Lost away to Man Utd 2-0
Lost away to Arsenal 1-0