Why I'm backing Chelsea to knock out Man United in the Champions League

By Mark Lawrenson

Published 07:00 02/04/11

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I fancy Chelsea to knock out Manchester United in the ­Champions League.

They are two very good sides, but Chelsea are on an unbeaten run.

They are not the same side that barnstormed the league and cup last season, but they are starting to keep clean sheets. Nearly all the players are fit. And what might be the biggest thing: it is their turn to win.

They have had some tough luck in the Champions League and ­eventually it will turn.

United have their injury problems and I just see Chelsea nosing in front of them.

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Fabio Capello has found his job picked-over in the last week for his lack of language skills, John Terry’s captaincy, and his failure to speak to Rio Ferdinand.

But they are all side issues.

The bigger question is why haven’t we had a full debrief from Fabio about why we failed so spectacularly at the World Cup.

He needs to put all the facts together and say why the squad didn’t produce what they are obviously capable of.

Players were tired, shouldn’t have gone to Austria pre-tournament and should not have been so isolated in ­Rustenburg. That is the bigger story of his reign.

England will qualify for Euro 2012. But we will go there thinking ‘what will we get from them’?

We have really good players, but we need to sit down now and work out why we can’t do tournaments – before next summer.

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