- Chelseae Official Site PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V QUEEN'S PARK RANGERS It's time to set out on the road to Wembley we travelled all the way last season. Club historian Rick Glanvill and statistician Paul Dutton welcome back a much-missed local derby. Rick reviews Chelsea and QPR, past, present and future. Although to visiting supporters this derby is the big one, its vintage is relative new and short-lived. Chelsea had played west London rivals Brentford and Fulham for decades before meeting Queen's Park Rangers for the first time 40 years ago, and we haven't met hoops in almost 12. Since then at Stamford Bridge the feeling among fans has slipped from 'QP-ha!' to 'QP-who?' That changes this weekend.  read more »

- SUNDAY TELEGRAPH/Clive White - QPR unsettle neighbours Chelsea So in the end all that separated the haves and the have-soons was an own goal. Rangers' new billionaire owners could be excused for thinking that success in this football business could come wonderfully cheaply, if the laboured efforts of their supposedly upper class West London neighbours was anything to go by here. Make no mistake, the FA Cup holders were hanging on at the finish against the lowly Championship side. They even had to bring on three of their biggest players, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and Joe Cole, to ensure that they were not subjected to the dubious pleasure of a replay at Loftus Road.  read more »

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Chelsea 1 QPR 0

QPR OFFICIAL SITE
QPR left Stamford Bridge with their heads held high, despite bowing out of the FA Cup to holders and near-neighbours Chelsea.
A fluke goal in the 29th minute proved to be the difference between the West London rivals, on an afternoon when the R's impressive performance promised much for a very bright future.
Lee Camp was the unlucky culprit, as Claudio Pizarro's right foot shot bounced back off the post and hit the unfortunate keeper, before trickling over the line.
Despite the final scoreline, Rangers were by no means overawed by their hosts, with Martin Rowlands and Gavin Mahon at the heart of their efficient display.
Luigi De Canio handed new signings Mahon, Matthew Connolly and Fitz Hall their full QPR debuts at Stamford Bridge.  read more »

This is serious. This is BIG. A clash of the titans. The greatest show on earth. Star wars. The Battle Of Britain. The Day Of The Triffids. It's the quarter finals of the European Cup, and it's all back to Anfield after last week's underwhelming draw between Liverpool and Arsenal.  read more »

Liverpool wins 5-3 on aggregate Reina Carragher Skrtel Hyypia Aurelio Alonso Mascherano Kuyt Crouch Gerrard Torres Goals: Diaby 13 Hyypia 30 Torres 69 Adebayor 84 Gerrard 86 (pen) Babel 90+2 Well, that was a very strange, and very English, game. I guess I should be thankful it wasn't another 1-1. I like to think I understand Benitezs team selections more often than not; its why I hazard a guess at the squad in every preview. But no matter how well Crouch played on Saturday, I was stunned to see him start in place of Babel, with the team otherwise the same as last Wednesday. There were suggestions it was because of an injury to Babel, but with him coming on as a substitute, I think that theory can be put to rest. But the formation remained the same as in the last leg.  read more »

- It's one year since QPR's 15 year old, England youth prospect, Dean Parrett was sold to Spurs. There were differing accounts about how this came about. Parrett is in the England U-17 squad playing this weekend in the "Algarve Tournament." Dean Parrett's Sale -As Reported a Year Ago: - QPR Official Site - QPR's teenage starlet Dean Parrett has joined Tottenham Hotspur. Dean, 15, will move into the Tottenham Academy on a student registration before joining full-time as a scholar in July 2008. Parrett helped England Under-16s retain the Victory Shield against Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland in October last year. A talented midfielder with bags of natural ability, Parrett made five starts and four sub appearances for the Under-18's this season, scoring one goal.  read more »

Before I get to the main subject of todays blog, theres another topic that caught my attention today. I picked up my newspaper this morning and felt that I may have been caught in a time warp. There was a story in it which said that the city council had approved Liverpools plans for a 60,000 seat stadium on Stanley Park. This is of course great news, or at least it was when we first heard it two bloody years ago! Now correct me if Im wrong, but the plans for a 60,000 seater stadium were already in place before our souls were sold to these two American idiots. You might remember that this was the original stadium design that they promised they would commence building within 60 days of taking over the club.  read more »

Liverpool at the crossroads: will it be greatness or disaster?  read more »

Reina Finnan Skrtel Carragher Riise Mascherano Lucas Kuyt Gerrard Babel Crouch Jorge Valdano would not have been pleased with todays match. Id hate to hear what hed call this having referred to last years Champions League semi-final as shit on a stick. It was pretty much par for the course as Liverpool/Chelsea matches go, especially when you consider that both teams were without their top scorer, among others missing. Neither team had much time on the ball while neither was able to impose their style of play. The midfield was packed, and both teams gave the ball away too cheaply and too often. And predictably, neither side created many chances.  read more »