Football Dissected

It's the Blues vs the Whites. Grant vs Ramos. Berbatov vs Terry. It's the first final of the English season. Chelsea will be looking to secure their thrid Carling Cup in four years, after winning 3-2 against Liverpool in the 2005 final and beating London rivals Arsenal 2-1 last year under influential, charismatic manager José Mourinho. Meanwhile, Spurs, under new boss Juande Ramos, will be looking for their first piece of sliverware in nine years. And my money's on the Blues.

Chelsea have been there and conquered all. They have the experience of knowing what finals are all about. A lot of the Spurs players though, are still relative newborns to winning trophies. And take into account that Spurs record against Chelsea is like a rotten egg three months over its expiry date, then it's no wonder why the Blues are favourties. But don't think this is a forgone conclusion. Spurs are carving for success, especially after seeing the joy of bitter North London rivals Arsenal in recent years. They're hungry, they're starving - they're like a obese 30-stone 40-year old who hasn't eaten all day. They're like the Special Forces - preparing, planning, training for this day to come for nine long years. They're representing the common man, the guy on the street, the average fan. Meanwhile, their west London opponents are the lions of the den, the footballing advert of the super-rich, upperclass crème de la crème society that some only dream about. Many say money can't buy you success in football, but it can buy you a load of talent.

I expect the midfield in a few hours time at Wembley will be like Piccadilly Circus Tube station on a Monday morning, packed to the full with international talent - Lampard, Essien, Mikel, Jenas, Zokora, Malbranque. And this won't be a time to be experimenting new formations and tactics. Anelka's been playing well recently since his move from Bolton in January, but against Woodgate and King I expect Chelsea to go with raw power so the Frenchman will probably be on the bench with Drogba starting. I'm expecting Florent Malouda and Shaun Wright-Phillips to be the two wingers for Chelsea and to provide the crosses for Drogba with Lampard breaking from midfield. Cech is a automatic started with the back four of Belletti, Terry, Carvalho and Bridge. I'm expecting Bridge and Belletti to be darting up and down the wings to add width to Chelsea's play and provide support to wingers Malouda and Wright-Phillips.

Spurs, meanwhile, will probably stick with the partnership of Berbatov and Keane with the Bulgarian playing just behind the Irishman. Aaron Lennon I expect will be hugging the wing to add real width to Spurs with Jenas, Zokora and Malbranque as a trio-midfield to stop Chelsea free-flowing football through the middle. Hutton, Woodgate, King and Chimbonda will no doubt make up the back four for the Spurs with Radek Černý starting in goal after a impressive run of form.

The echoes of Mourinho's name still ring around Stamford Bridge, despite the fact that Grant has had similar success as his Portuguese counterpart did when he first came to the Bridge. Trophies, however, are the benchmark for success in modern football and José Mourinho certainly won his fair share of silverware. Can Grant secure his first trophy as the Blues continue their search for a unprecedented Quadruple or will Ramos bring his success to White Hart Lane at last like he did so with Sevilla?

It's going to be one hell of a final.