Happy New Year one and all. It's my pleasure and honour to do the prematch thread for the first game of 2022!Sunday 2 JanuaryReferee: Anthony TaylorAssistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Mike Dean. VAR: Paul Tierney ( . FFS)Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis.Hangovers: Don’t you just HATE them?! I had one after the last weekend and given the display we saw on Tuesday night, some of the lads were suffering from as well...The first draft of this was written before that bloody game and necessitated a rethink of what to finally say. Let’s get that off the chest first though and say that the least said about Tuesday night the better. It will inevitably come up in this thread and will still be picked over, but this is about the here and now and specifically how we react, which we all hope and desire will be to bounce back with three points over a very close rival.So... Chelsea at the Bridge it is. First game of 2022. A new start. Fresh beginning. A chance to reset. Call it what you will, but it's one hell of a game to start!I have to admit to once having a soft spot for Chelsea. Being a Southerner, I grew up having a lot of friends which saw me going to the Bridge a lot during the early 80’s and when I got married, it was into a family full of Chelsea season ticket holders. Jeez. However, all through that, although they were (are still?) infamous for being troublemakers and downright nasty bastards as fans, I never had any issues or run-ins with any of their fans at any stage, even though they knew I was a Red. Helped that I could speak their language as Kerry Dixon went there from my hometown side (Reading) and I got a few of them his autograph as I knew a few of the Reading side at the time.However, that all ended when they sold their soul and the era of Abramovic started. Kenyon then coming along which didn't help either. From that time on, they became the football anti-Christ and a Real Madrid wannabe, buying all the star names and throwing their cash around just because they could. Inevitably, they were the embodiment of the fucking Tories, especially that utter fuckwit Mellor seemed to be their mascot. New money, brash and vulgar. One thing that kept me from despising them totally was that a lot of the long-standing Chelsea fans I knew despaired of what was going on at their club as much as we did, but this final vestige of any feeling I had for them went flying out the window when Fernando went there. Utter devastation. Amazing, but that still rankles now.Back to the fixture however, which has personally provided me with many moments where I’ve smiled contentedly (yeah, I'll admit it, also smugly!) across at aforementioned extended family members at the many gatherings we’ve had after a Red win, but has also necessitated the singing of “fuck off Chelsea FC, you ain’t got no history” (out of earshot of the mother and father-in-law of course… 😉) when they have got the better of us. Still love that song… Even more so now we have number 6 and 19 to re-emphasise the gulf. Mind you, it’d sound even better with 20 and 7 behind us… But I digress! Famous league games at Stamford Bridge3rd May 1986. Chelsea 0 – Liverpool 1 Pandemonium. Delirium. Sheer bliss. Loss of voice. In that order. I can still see him chest the ball down and volley into the net from the away end and then losing my shit with pretty much all of the pen that I was in. The train journey home saw me making sure that everyone I saw knew I’d been the game. Program on display. Scarf prominent. Chest pushing the replica Adidas shirt proudly to the fore. Perma-grin plastered over the visage. The works. We’d caught the bitters and overtaken them to win the league with “The worst Liverpool side I’ve ever seen” (© Alan Hansen) The first leg of the then-mystical double. And the Supreme Being was the one who secured it. The only player manager in English history (a record that I guarantee will never be beaten) to win the double. Anyway, that’s nothing whatsoever to do with Premier League wins at the bridge, but it just had to be brought up.As we all know, We drew the home match at Anfield 1-1 in a game that saw Chelsea down to 10 men and parking the bus with what was another contentious game for one thing or another. At the end of the day though, like it or not, we showed an inability to turn dominance into three points. As of now, we have (game in hand aside) spookily similar records:Pos Team Played W D L For Against Goal Diff Points2 Chelsea 20 12 6 2 43 14 29 423 Liverpool 19 12 5 2 50 16 34 41What is interesting is that in the Premier League era, we have had 8 wins to their 7 at the Bridge. Closer than I thought, but it always seems like we play them about 4 times a season anyway, so it’s easy to lose track!As for Sunday, then most on here would call this a “Must win” match if we’re going to challenge the Oil men in 1st place, but then the same could be said of Chelsea. Given how the season is going, it’s hard to argue against that as even though the season has plenty of time to run, the form that City are showing shows no signs of letting up, so any more of a gap between us will make it harder and harder. We need to stay as close to them as possible and by any means necessary if we're going to challenge for the league. Aside from that, we’re about to lose Mo, Sadio and Naby for a while so max points against this lot now would be most welcome going into a round of fixtures that are not as harsh on us as it could be. As for Chelsea, they will only be losing Mendy for the Afcon which will be a blow to them, but nowhere near as impactful.Have to say that I am, only interested in the team in Red, so I can’t really speak with any conviction for Chelsea, so I asked the in-laws what their views are and they all say similar – great going forward, suspect when got at. The same conversation has been had between us for quite a few years now, that being that they’ve never strengthened where they needed it most and that their midfield without Kante (who I think is a sublime player) does not fill them with any confidence. One recurring discussion point (and one that in all fairness does wind up the Chels stalwarts a lot) is that they always seem to go for shiny, expensive but ultimately pointless buys such as Werner and Havertz, although one thing we all agree on is that Lukaku is a carthorse and another instance of throwing needless money away. Robbo is still suspended and Harvey is back in training, but still missing. Div is still crock as is Nat Phillips. Thiago should be good to go though Other than that, we're goodChelsea have Reece James, Andreas Christenson, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell out, with Thiago a doubt. Anyway, this all boils down to like was said at the beginning, that we're now in third behind these and City and need a comeback after Leicester. Three points to keep me smiling at the next family event would do very nicely please lads, otherwise it’ll have to be another rendition of “Fuck off Chelsea FCAllez Redmen
How is that not a red?
28 We seem to be in control at the moment, noticeable how silent the ground is now. Chelsea getting loads of possession but not doing much with it so far.
31 VAR looking into a red card for Tsimikas, he was down on the ground and I didn't see much. Perhaps someone has seen more?
The check was to see if Mount should be sent off for 'kicking out'