Preview: Chelsea v Fulham

On paper it certainly doesn't look much of a contest. Chelsea's multi-million pound superstars of world football against our battling side which has been put together for a fraction of the cost, but there are some factors which could swing the advantage in our favour.

Firstly is the upheaval that's happened in recent weeks with the departure of the 'Special One' and the installation of the hitherto virtually unknown Avram Grant to the manager's chair. It's a bizarre situation and unsettling - as their lacklustre showing against Man Utd illustrated.

Secondly, it is being reported that Roberto Carvalho and Frank Lampard won't be fit to play tomorrow which is good news - although Didier Drogba is poised to make a shock return to the side which is worrying, considering the damage that he can inflict.

Thirdly, we know they're not invincible.

Don't forget we turned them over at the Cottage (come on, who could forget that afternoon!!!) on March 19th last year when, arguably, they were at the very peak of their powers under Mourinho and en-route to their second successive Premier League title.

Both teams have had troubled starts to this season, although the Blues are certainly in a healthier position at present.

So far they are 6th with 11 points on the back of three wins, two draws and two defeats. Victories have been recorded against Birmingham and Portsmouth at the Bridge, and Reading away, while they drew 0-0 at home against Blackburn and 1-1 at Liverpool. The two defeats - both 0-2 reversals - were suffered on the road at Aston Villa and Manchester United.

In the league they have scored seven goals and conceded eight. Their leading scorer so far is Frank Lampard with three, while Drogba, Pizarro, Malouda and Essien have all chipped in with one-a-piece. However, they have failed to score in their last three league games.

This form is in stark contrast to this time last season at which point they had won five out of their first six games and were topping the league with 15 points.

As for us, we have now slipped to a miserable 17th with just six points having been notched up so far. The results table shows one win, three draws and three defeats. Our home record shows a win against Bolton, draws against Spurs and Manchester City, and defeat at the hands of Boro. A draw at Wigan and defeats at Aston Villa and Arsenal illustrate the fact we haven't won on the road for more than a year. That is woeful in anybody's book.

We certainly don't appear to have a problem scoring. Twelve goals have been netted so far in the league, with Dempsey topping the charts with three and Healy and Smertin bagging two each. Kamara, Bouazza, Murphy, McBride and Davies have all got one. However, we have let in a whopping fourteen goals - six in the last two home matches alone.

At this point last season we were sitting in 11th position with eight points, having won twice, drawn twice and lost twice.

So what's going to happen at Stamford Bridge tomorrow?

I believe we have every chance of scoring goals this weekend; my biggest fear is how many we're going to concede. Our defence has, to put it politely, been rather fragile of late and that's not a great way to go into a crunch game.

While it pains me to return to the familiar discussion point of Chris Baird - I'm starting to feel like we're part of a gang bullying this lad - I think for his sake he needs to be rested this weekend as things just aren't going his way and Volz brought back into the right back position.

However, that is unlikely to happen. On his icons.com blog, Volzy reveals he's been spending time on the treatment table so we'll have to get behind Baird and hopefully help him to deliver the kind of performance of which he is capable.

Elsewhere I believe that Sanchez will stick with the familiar line-up in midfield and attack that we've seen of late with Smertin being restored to the side after having been rested for Wednesday's disastrous outing against Bolton. Bouazza will probably return as well, with Seol on the sidelines, poised to cause mayhem in the last 20 minutes if necessary.

Healy will probably be given his starting berth back, although I would definitely like to see Kamara test himself against the likes of Terry & Co at some stage. As far as goalkeepers are concerned, I really don't know what's best as I am yet to see Keller first-hand. I presume Sanchez will stick with Niemi - let's just hope he's got his form back.

To see a full breakdown of our recent record at Stamford Bridge click here.