Chelsea fan Vijayakrishna talks to Eugene YS Han about his team's performance five months into the Premier League season.

Up to this point in the season, what is the best or worst your club can achieve this coming season?

Vijayakrishna : Well, the best can only be winning the premier league. In fact, I don't mind if we give the Champions League a miss. What we want is the Barclays Premier League title. We all want to be the champions of the most competitive league in the world. As we stand now, despite a not-so-great December performance, we are very strong contenders to win the league title. The standards, benchmarks and expectations are very high here at Chelsea FC as some of the managers have learnt it themselves. In the words of legendary Jose Mourinho 'there are champions and there are others'. Which is why, a trophyless season could be seen as the worst that we could experience.

Just how will the African Nations Cup affect your club?

Vijayakrishna: It's not unusual for teams to miss key players to injuries and we need to treat this as something similar to that. I'm sure any team would miss the likes of Drogba and Essien. Drogba produces magic while Essien has that drive. We may not have direct replacements for these fantastic players but we have good alternatives that can help us come out of this period successfully. We tend to hype up the impact of ANC a bit. We are looking at a maximum of 6 matches during this period - Hull City (A), Sunderland (H), Birmingham (H), Burnley (A), Arsenal (H) and Everton (A). With due respect to the other clubs, the real challenging matches are against Arsenal and Everton. I think we should get about 12 to 14 points out of the possible 18, which in my books is a very good return for this period.

Who is your key player?

Vijayakrishna: Didier Drogba. We're still in 2009 and he's scored 19 goals already. As I said, Drogba can produce magic. He is our talisman. He can do the unthinkable. He can be outrageous with his efforts. His presence gives us a psychological advantage and he is the one that can constantly put the opponents under pressure. More than anything, he's a big match player.

Who is the unsung hero in your team?

Vijayakrishna: Anelka & Ivanovic. Anelka is not really unsung as such but Drogba walks with loads of goals and lots of credit that go with that. Anelka also deserves a lot of credit. Having been a harsh critic of Anelka myself, I know that Nico has come a long way since he joined the club. His work rate has improved exponentially and he is much more of a team player than he ever was. Unfortunately, the forwards are measured by the goals and assists but there is Anelka who may not have much of these but very very effective in making our attacks tick. Ivanovic has been the most impressive defensive player this season. He's proving to be a fantastic defender and also is very useful while going forward. Sadly he he doesn't get the press coverage as much as a Terry or a Carvalho. He has become such an important player for us that his name on the team sheet gives us immense confidence.

Which new signing has impressed you most? Which one the least?

Vijayakrishna: The most expensive Russian player ever. Yuri Zhirkov. We haven't seen a lot of him yet. With whatever I've seen of him so far, he looks to be real deal. He dribbles with so much ease and he's got a wicked shot from outside. Ever since the departure of Robben, we've been crying out loud for a dribbler that can slip through any defence. While Zhirkov and Robben are not comparable, at least we have someone with superb dribbling skills. He also comes with experience. He is also versatile on the left side as in he can play as the left back or left midfielder or even as a left winger. He can be an asset in the latter half of this season. By the way, do we know that the goal Yuri scored against Hamburg is considered one of the best goals in champions league history? As regards, the least impressive, well, I must say, none.

Which area do you think your team needs strengthening in January?

Vijayakrishna: I might sound like Arsene Wenger here. I think we have a very good team already. I wouldn't think of strengthening our team just for January. There are some sharp young players that only the coach gets to see. With whatever glimpse we've got so far, I must say we have a good bunch of youngsters and there is a brilliant opportunity for them this January. To answer your question directly, we don't currently have quality specialist wingers. When 4-4-2 does not seem to work, if you change it, to say 4-3-3, we realise that we don't have the players to fit into that system. We need more versatile, impact-making, quick players. Some of them could be from our youth/reserves team is what I was trying to say.

Young player to look out for?

Vijayakrishna: Gael Kakuta. He was in the news for all wrong reasons. It won't be much time before he gets the headlines for all right reasons. Kakuta is just what we need. Young, lightning quick, super-dribbling skills, tricks and flicks and more. He is exceptionally talented and I think he is certainly worth all the trouble we are going through because of his transfer.

Where will your club finish this season?

Vijayakrishna: Champions. I don't think I surprised you with that answer. This season has been very special so far. I don't know when the league was this competitive. For the first time in many seasons, it appears that the big four may not be the top four. There were times where the champions lost only three games in the whole season. This season, we see all top teams dropping points like they don't want to win. More than any other season, this time, to be champions you need consistency and experience to endure this rollercoaster of a campaign. That's where I think, Chelsea will come up trumps.

What is BlueChampions?

Vijayakrishna: BlueChampions was started in Sep 2006. I started this because I love football, I love Chelsea, I love internet and I love writing. In the here-today-gone-tomorrow world of blogging, the sustenance of this Chelsea blog is quite an achievement. The biggest achievement is the community that we've managed to build there.