PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V WEST BROMWICH ALBION
March begins with the month's only Saturday fixture. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton build up to the traditional kick-off time with their traditional preview…
TALKING POINTS
Following a thoroughly efficient 2-0 victory at the Riverside in the FA Cup the focus swings back to main business of any football club, the league campaign. West Brom were the second competitive visitors to Stamford Bridge way back in 1905.
In the present day Chelsea have enjoyed home wins on the spin in the Barclays Premier League and we have a 100 per cent home record against the Baggies, who are managed by popular former Chelsea player and coach, Steve Clarke.
Albion will also be without another Blue, their man of the moment, Romelu Lukaku. The striker, benefiting from playing regularly, has netted six of the Baggies' last 10 goals but is ineligible under the terms of his loan from Stamford Bridge.
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As a result of Chelsea's progress to the quarter-finals our Premier League trip to Fulham on Sunday 10 March is now postponed. Instead, on the date our club was founded 108 years ago, we travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.
Although a fixtures snarl-up caused by a replay against Boro was avoided, rescheduling the Craven Cottage match will hand other sides the chance to steal an advantage, however temporarily, in the fight for Champions League places.
The club's intensive schedule finally eases in a fortnight's time - but not for internationals, some of whom will play twice either side of the weekend of 23/24 March.
When West Brom beat the Blues 2-1 in mid-November it nudged them into third spot, the high water mark of their season to date.They have lost eight of the 15 games since and Clarke has occasionally deployed two strikers in an attempt to turn their fortunes around.
The visitors have won their last two matches, at Liverpool and at home to Sunderland, have played 17 fewer games this season than Chelsea and are now back up to seventh. They will be well aware the hosts have won just three of our last eight Premier League games.
The European champions can enjoy the fact two rivals for third and fourth spot face each other this weekend, Arsenal (currently one point behind the Blues) travelling to White Hart Lane to play Spurs (two ahead) on Sunday afternoon.
Fernando Torres's redirection of Ramires's shot (however aware he was of it) at the Riverside was not officially enough to make him the first forward to score for the Londoners since late January.
Never the less Chelsea are the league's second highest scorers with 55 in 27 matches, 17 more than the Baggies.
Victor Moses's tap-in against Boro was his second in three FA Cup matches and his first since returning from success at the Africa Cup of Nations. Had he been away at, say, the European Championships, it would be unusual immediately to resume club duties, so credit to the Nigerian winger for his rapid recovery.
Nathan Aké, just 18 years old, who put in an accomplished performance on Teesside as a deep-lying midfielder, became Chelsea's third youngest overseas player to start a match.
Finland-born Mikael Forssell was aged 17 and 11 months on his full debut against Oxford United in February 1999, while Joel Kitamirike (born in Uganda) was just 17 years and six months old when named in the line-up against Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the UEFA Cup in October 2001.
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Barclays Premier League fixtures
Saturday
Chelsea v West Brom 3pm
Everton v Reading 3pm
Manchester United v Norwich 3pm
Southampton v QPR 3pm
Stoke v West Ham 3pm
Sunderland v Fulham 3pm
Swansea v Newcastle 3pm
Wigan v Liverpool 5.30pm - ESPN
Sunday
Tottenham v Arsenal 4pm - Sky Sports
Monday
Aston Villa v Manchester City 8pm - PldGdPts
| Barclays Premier League top eight | ||||
| Top | Pld | Gd | Pts | |
| 1 | Man Utd | 27 | +33 | 68 |
| 2 | Man City | 27 | +26 | 56 |
| 3 | Tottenham | 27 | +15 | 51 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 27 | +25 | 49 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 27 | +22 | 47 |
| 6 | Everton | 27 | +7 | 42 |
| 7 | West Brom | 27 | +2 | 40 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 27 | +15 | 39 |
The race for the Premier League Golden Boot
Robin van Persie (Manchester Utd) 19
Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 18
Bale (Tottenham) 15
Michu (Swansea) 15
Demba Ba (13 for Newcastle) 14
Race for the Premier League Golden Glove
Clean sheets
Joe Hart (Manchester City) 12
Petr Cech 9
Asmir Begovic (Stoke) 9
Simon Mignolet (Sunderland) 9
Click on tabs above for more briefing.
