What makes you think Torres is the answer? his fantastic form? his great first touch and link up play? the fact that he has the most failed dribble attempts in the league? his 1 goal in 24 match record? being dropped from the spain squad?

It's too simplistic to say that only these 3 can win us the match, the way we perform in midfield will have much more baring on the outcome than our forward 3.

If I was to trust a player to play through the middle it would be Drogba, he has a great big game record, and even tho he is also off for, is nowhere near as poor as Torres. Also, Anelka may be poor but he has been our best forward so far this season. yes he drops deep, is lethargic and makes some poor decisions, but he made lots of space for Mata and Sturridge on saturday.

I wouldn;t have Torres near the team.

with mata and sturridge the games paced is increased , Do you think drogba will be able to keep up with it after just coming back .. No hell slow the game down ... the game suits torres much more

Kdl; I couldn't have said it better myself.

I am not sure that front three will be the problem or the solution. The issue is whether Chelsea can keep United out.

The back four seems very leaky; Cech is not as imperious as he once was; Terry has not been the same since Carvalho left, looks slow and doddery; Ivanovic is not an effective right back, and strangely even Cole doesn't look the same player anymore.

I would always pick Drogba for the big games - Sturridge could easily get bullied out of the game, Drogba never will. Looks like he might be only an impact sub, but you need him to play some part if you are to get a result at OT in my opinion.

Drogba is much better than that. Also where is the evidence that this will suit Torres? He is more than just off form, he is shockingly bad at the moment. Only against Stoke has he looked a half decent player since we signed him. His pace is hardly lightning right now and more importantly his reactions have been slow, he takes too many touches on the ball and slows the play down by doing that as well as giving the ball away more than anybody else in the side.

Drogba has a knack of dropping deep and creating space for runners which would be excellent for Sturridge, he is proven in big games and while yes he is off form, I'd still trust him over the other centre forwards at our disposal.

Like the mouse guy says, It os overly simplistic to say the front 3 will win the match, we need to dominate Anderson and Carrick in the middle and we need to sort the backline out. Ivanovic is a very good right back so that is nonsense. Bosingwa can not play! he is a liability and a disaster. Ivanovic is dodgy at CB but excellent at RB so bring in Luiz for Bosingwa and push Ivanovic to RB.

Mouseburger, did you see Terry at all last year? Was our best defender. As for the not as good since Carvalho left, it's totally wrong. As good as Ricardo was for us he was a liability in his final season.

Cech was also in great form last year and has only played 2 games this year so I have no idea where that opinion is based on either.

I will agree with you however that Drogba should be played if he is fit, maybe test De Gea with some high crosses. How some people who have claimed he is a 6'4 keeper I don't know, he's shorter than most of your defenders.

I personally think we have to go up top with Sturridge, Drogba and either Mata or Anelka.

I am Anelka's biggest critic, but he has been our best striker so far this season, that is irrefutable

As far as im concerned this has to be our team on Sunday:
Cech
Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole
Ramires, Meireles
Sturridge, McEachran, Mata
Torres
I know a lot of people will go on about Man Utd strikers and wingers being so prolific this season and yes i do agree but their defence has been complete rubbish, even Arsenal scored 2 easy goals against them as for our strikeforce i could see us scoring 4 or 5 against that defence.

Mceachran is yet to complete 90 minutes. whay would you throw him straight in to a match like this? he is an excellent prospect with great talent, but his stamina is terrible and he suffers greatly after an hour even for the reserves.

I agree we shouldn;t be concentrating too much on the Utd players but to say you see a strikeforce with Torres through the middle scoring 4 or 5 against Utd is just crazy.

On current form I would say we are as far from beating Utd at Old Trafford as we have been for many a season

We will score...but we will concede more

Mouseburger, did you see Terry at all last year? Was our best defender.
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and that means?? the best of a bad bunch is not great praise at all. I appreciate Terry is a talismanic figure for Chelsea, he sums up loyalty and commitment, but hasn't it really dawned yet that from the moment Carvalho left you started getting breached more often?!
Is that a coincidence? i don't think so.

As for Ivanovic. I probably need to rephrase what i mean. I am not saying he is rubbish, but also he is not a resilient right back when the top teams start probing him. He is physical rather than skillful in my opinion. Will be interesting to see if United will focus their attacks down that side (i think they will).

Honestly, i would say that United are going to pose Chelsea more problems than Chelsea will cause United.

*However* the great unknown is Drogba - if he is fit and up for it, i think he could give our younger CBs (if selected) a hell of a tough time, and i would be a bit more concerned at his quality of shooting from distance.

So long as we give ourselves a chance (unlike the league game at OT last season) I won't be as disappointed. That game at OT was as disappointing a game as I've seen for years domestically.

Mouse

Carvahlo was becoming a Liability to be honest

Class defender in 04/05 05/06 - probably the best in the prem, - not good enough when we sold him on

Carvahlo was becoming a Liability to be honest
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But any more so than Terry though??

look at your goals against column for the past 2 seasons compared to the previous 4 Carvalho's time at SB).

Then look at Real Madrids goals against column for the last two seasons Carvalho has been there and compared that to the previous season when he wasn't.

Mouse. I agree to an extent with much of what you say. But I wouldn't swap our group of CBs for any other in the prem. despite having a poor year last year we still had the joint best defence in the league and Ivanovic always does well against Nani. Utd don't look to strong at the back. They look great going forward but De Gea has made the most saves in the league. Better finishing and the WBA would have been a draw or defeat.

Saying all that, you guys have to be heavy favourites for Sunday, the front 4 are looking impressive. We need to starve the wide players by controlling Anderson and Carrick in the middle.

Terry is not a laibility & never has been

he doesn't possess the footballing talent of others - but more than makes up in other departments

We also had midfielders that were busy attacking & taking teams apart - possibly rendering our back four unemployed for a lot of games in Riccy's time too (slight exaggeration)

As for Real Madrid - they have four world class players at the back & another six in midfield & upfront - whilst playing also ran teams any other week than when Barca aren't in town

Spain is like a vastly better version of the Scottish league in that there's two proper teams & a bunch of 'others'

Not comparable really

Drogba should not be playing for the united game, when he has come on, he has looked even worse than Torres, and that is very hard to do, it would have to be either Torres or Anelka as the central striker.

Carvalho wasn't suited to the PL but is suited to La Liga.

*wasn't suited to the PL anymore. I'm happy with Luiz instead. The better player