Blackburn Rovers blog: This is no time to face Drogba and Chelsea (From This Is Lancashire)

Blackburn Rovers blog: This is no time to face Drogba and Chelsea

6:00am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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IF Chelsea’s forward line already possesses the Incredible Sulk, Blackburn Rovers may soon find out that it also contains the Hulk himself. Because the fear is they won’t like Didier Drogba when he’s angry.

It was Nicolas Anelka - or Le Sulk as he was known in the old days - who came, saw and conquered with a brace when Chelsea won 2-0 at Ewood Park in the league last season.

Anelka was anonymous as Chelsea slipped out of the Champions League to Inter Milan on Tuesday, but if rage has ever motivated him before, he has kept it well hidden.

Rovers will know the threats will come from everywhere when Chelsea visit in the Premier League on Sunday.

The names – Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Joe Cole, Salomon Kalou etc – tell you all you need to know in that respect.

After such a feeble Chelsea performance in midweek, Carlo Ancelotti’s men will have no shortage of points to prove at Ewood and that is the problem.

If Chelsea are the champions they say they are, this is just about the worst possible time Rovers could run into them.

But one man has stood above all others this season, and rather unfortunately it is he who may have the biggest mission of all.

Drogba will surely know by now that ill-discipline on each of Chelsea’s last three Champions League exits has let his club down.

He has two months to make amends and it starts on Sunday, when the focus will be on him.

And when Drogba has a point to prove, we know what usually happens.

Rovers know how to stop him of course. Just follow the Walter Samuel method.

Rugby tackle him at every opportunity, steal his dinner money and administer a few Chinese burns.

Maybe even add in a few new ideas. Perhaps the odd diving header to the legs, as patented by Brian Jensen on Kevin Doyle last weekend.

All techniques approved under the UEFA code of conduct. Just don’t take your shirt off if you score a goal.

Should Rovers, however, have the misfortune of encountering a referee who frowns on these sorts of things – someone like Steve Bennett, for instance - they may be in trouble.

Let’s just check down the list for this weekend’s referee… it seems to be a Mr Steve... ah well, it was a nice idea while it lasted.

Rovers, of course, have been strong at home this season and beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

They will also be reassured that Chelsea’s manager is still not Jose Mourinho.

Ancelotti is no Mourinho, and his penchant for saying pretty much nothing at press conferences is certainly not as fun.

After all, why was it that three shrugging Italian managers had the monopoly on the Terry-Bridge scenario? What we needed was a Mourinho to put some real heat under the situation and spin it out for a few more months.

The irony is that Chelsea could have as many Rovers fans out there as Blackburn on Sunday, with Yuri Zhirkov a supporter since the Kenny Dalglish era. No, really.

But it is the hulking presence of Drogba that Rovers must beware.

“The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets,” is how the phrase goes.

And Drogba must be pretty mad right now.