Cardiff here we come. Book your train tickets to the Welsh capital on February 24 because the Blues are heading for another away day special.

Of course despite beating Newcastle 1-0 on Wednesday night there are still a couple of tasty sides to overcome in the Worthington Cup.

But the prospect of facing Gianluca Vialli's Watford, either in the semi-finals or the final is a mouthwatering prospect for all associated with Chelsea.

Watford have still to overcome Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough next week, but by then the draw for the semi-finals will have been made.

Chelsea will find out who they face over the two-legged affair in January, with Spurs and Blackburn Rovers the other sides involved.

But the match everyone wants is Watford.

Even Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri was caught up in the fever of that prospect.

"Vialli versus Ranieri yes that would be interesting for everyone," he confessed.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's late, late winner on Wednesday night keeps the pressure off Ranieri for another week.

But it will resurface on Sunday if Chelsea fail to beat league leaders Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

The Blue's home performances have been erratic their last match ending in defeat by Charlton and, prior to that, a drab draw against Blackburn Rovers.

Victory

They also only won the match against Ipswich with a late strike by Sam Dalla Bona.

So Liverpool will come to the Bridge confident of victory.

Top of the league and doing well in Europe, the Scousers are proving to be the team to beat this year.

Their 0-0 draw with Fulham at Anfield on Wednesday night will have stung them somewhat and who would bet against Michael Owen scoring his 100th goal for the Reds against the Blues?

The announcement that Chelsea's managing director Colin Hutchinson is moving out of SW6 at the end of the season, will renew speculation about his replacement in the coming weeks.

Ken Bates said in his programme notes on Wednesday that he is hoping for a "seamless handover''.

But to whom will he be handing over?

Will Bates step into the breach and combine his chairman's role with that of Hutchinson's?

It will certainly save the club some money on wages and Bates probably has the time on his hands now that the Stamford Bridge stadium construction is complete and he is no longer involved in the building of the new national stadium.

Meanwhile, the national press has had a field day with the Marcel Desailly and William Gallas off to Old Trafford' story this week.

One could take the jaundiced view and say perhaps an agent was involved to raise the financial standing of his players with their employers.

It's obviously not an assertion I would go along with, but it was one version of events I heard this week.

Needless to say Desailly stated quite clearly on his web site that he wants to be left alone to play for Chelsea, because he is going nowhere.

So that's that then.

December 14, 2001 16:00