12/3/2008 English Premier League - Chelsea vs Derby County

The death knell has already sounded on Derby County earlier in the season but will it now sound for Avram Grant in this live online commentary matchup between Chelsea and Derby County? While it would hardly be the case given the nature and certainty of the result in waiting, Grant is a man walking the plank along death row after being given an ultimatum of having to win either the league title or the Champions League in order to secure his job for another season. While Chelsea has sneaked back into the race in a good position on the virtue of quietly pegging away while Arsenal and Manchester United, to a lesser degree, have stuttered, the Champions League is a long shot given the overall quality of the squad compared to one like Barcelona, coupled with the failure of Grant to rise to the occasion during the 'big matches'. Undeniably, there still is a high level of quality in the Chelsea ranks and while some still argue the team lacks a cutting edge despite having top strikers like Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, the truth is that for all Ballack's probing and Lampard's persistence in midfield, they still lack a genuine playmaker. Such is the legacy from Mourinho's reign.

Derby County however, has problems of its own of far worse making and they must definitely have started looking forward to life in the English League Championship next season even if manager Paul Jewell continues to sing the indignant battle cry for the team to rise to the occasion and pitch a last ditch effort to avoid relegation. This live online commentary match between Chelsea and Derby will once again cruelly expose the deficiencies in a club of Derby's size to compete at the top level and they might forever be cast in the category of clubs good enough to ding dong between the English Premier League and English League Championship but never good enough to stay for long at the top tier of English football. This might, of course, all change if a wealthy benefactor were to fly to their rescue one day, but until that actually happens, they can only look forward to more five or six goal beatings against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea in a league match.