Ashley Cole's injury adds more pressure on Villas-Boas

Chelsea’s upcoming home game against relegation-threatened Wolves will be an interesting game to watch. Amidst a recent poor run of defeats, which began at a 2-1 defeat at home to Liverpool, it does not get any better for the blues as they were defeated by a 90th minute goal by Bayer Leverkusen. Although facing a Wolves team who are also having a equally poor run, all eyes will definitely be on Andre Villas-Boas’ team as they seek to close up the gap with league leaders Manchester City.

Recent speculation has it that Villas-Boas’ job is on the line and that his multi-billionaire owner Roman Abramovich is about to wield the axe. While there are no telling signs that Abramovich will sack him anytime before the New Year approaches, the pressure is definitely mounting on the Portugese coach to find his winning ways again.

But the quality of players at his disposal has shrunken since the last game. After losing Michael Essien to a long term injury problem, left-back Ashley Cole’s ankle injury at the Leverkusen game will bring about selection headaches to Villas-Boas, who has said Cole’s chances of playing are “At about 60%”. With John Terry distracted by the recent off-field racism scandal and David Luiz’s poor form in recent games, could it be the time for the coach to bring out Alex? Chelsea’s notoriously high defensive backline has been in the critisized in recent weeks, and Villas-Boas will definitely make this problem a priority.

While talimanic midfielder Frank Lampard has found back his rich vein of form, the opposite can be said for Fernando Torres. The £50 million signing from Liverpool has not been performing at his best, scoring only 2 goals in all competition for the Blues. While his fellow players and coaches at the club has pledged their support for him to find his form, time for him is running out, as seen in the Leverkusen defeat when he was an unused substitute.

Should the manager pick him for the upcoming game at Stamford Bridge? Truth to be told, youngsters such as Daniel Sturridge should be given a chance to shine. While Torres does have a prolific scoring record during his time at Liverpool, times have changed now and given this urgent need to start scoring goals and winning 3 points, Sturridge’s goal count of 4 goals is a statistic that shows his potential, even at a young age of 22.

Torres, Drogba, Anelka, or Sturridge? Chelsea’s recovery will now very much depend on the potency of the strikeforce.

My Probably Lineup (4-3-3): Cech; Luiz, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic; Lampard, Ramires, Mata; Malouda. Sturridge, Drogba.