One of the dullest games in recent memory?

Matt Davies-Adams has got Luke Bosher and Sam Parkin alongside him with the unenviable task of having to look back on Saturday's drab goalless draw at Bournemouth. Cerys Jones was there and sent her thoughts - and tried to take the positives from the clean sheet! But the misery was compounded by another serious injury to Liam Delap as the curse of the '9' shirt continues...

The Blues have to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night, making the trip to Bergamo to face Atalanta in MD6 of the Champions League. The Athletic's Italian football expert James Horncastle sends in his assessment of the challenge the Blues will face against the side who they sit level on points with in the league phase table.

Elsewhere, the streak is over! Chelsea Women's unbeaten run ends at 34 games after their shock 1-0 defeat by Everton at Kingsmeadow on Saturday. So does it mean their title hopes are over, sitting six points behind Manchester City at the top of the table?

Plus - a chance to hear from Chelsea loanee Leo Castledine - who's impressing at Huddersfield and in a rich vein of goalscoring form in League One!

There will be a SOC Extra dropping for you on Wednesday morning off the back of the trip to face Atalanta - before Matt returns with a full squad on Monday to look back on the visit of Everton AND look ahead to the trip to Cardiff in the League Cup on Tuesday night.

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HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Luke Bosher and Sam Parkin

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

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It feels like more than just a point... 

Matt Davies-Adams has got an OG SOC crew of The Athletic's Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey alongside him to look back on Sunday's 1-1 draw with league leaders Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

The gang reflect on the pretty remarkable point picked up against the Gunners given the first half red card dished out to Moises Caicedo, the maturity showed by Reece James and the rest of the team to contain Mikel Arteta's side - and the overall growth of this young squad over just a matter of months to show they really can be competitive against the very best the Premier League and Europe has to offer.

Next up - the Blues kick off a run of three straight away games when they travel to Elland Road to face Leeds on Wednesday night. How will Enzo Maresca tinker ahead of that one? And will Cole Palmer be thrown back in from the start?

Plus! Dom Fifield pops by to tell us more about The Athletic’s brand new book ‘The Soccer 100’ - billed as ‘a celebration of the beautiful game and its 100 greatest players’. Who of a Chelsea persuasion gets a mention?!

We'll be back on Monday to look back on Saturday's trip to Bournemouth AND look ahead to UCL MD6 as the Blues head out to Bergamo to face Atalanta on Tuesday night.

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Yamal who???????

Producer Lucy's joined by Simon Johnson to look back on a great European night under the lights at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea dispatched Spanish champions Barcelona in emphatic fashion, winning 3-0 and in some style on Tuesday evening.

What more can we say about Estêvão?! How big was it for Liam Delap to open his account? How good is Marc Cucurella!? And how does this set the team up for the top of the table clash with the Gunner's this weekend?

Matt will be back on Monday for a comprehensive look back at Sunday's visit of Arsenal - and to look ahead to the midweek trip to Leeds in the Premier League!

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Some week ahead...

Matt Davies-Adams has got Cerys Jones and Sam Parkin alongside him for all the fallout from Saturday's ultimately comfortable 2-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor.

It might not have been the most memorable of encounters - but we lavish praise on Andrey Santos and his MOTM performance, ponder Liam Delap's importance despite his struggles in front of goal - and lament Cole Palmer's door frame after his freak injury extends his lay-off from action.

It tees us up for an absolutely pivotal week - with Barcelona visiting Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, before Arsenal make the trip over from North London in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

We look ahead to the Champions League MD5 meeting against the Spanish giants - with The Athletic's Barca reporter Pol Ballús on hand to give us some insight into what to expect from Hansi Flick's side. Simon Johnson was in SW6 for the pre-match press conferences of Enzo Maresca and Marc Cucurella - so we've got a bit of a flavour of that for you too!

We'll be back on Wednesday morning with Simon's official verdict from the Bridge - before Matt and the gang return on Monday morning with our full post-Arsenal pod.

HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Cerys Jones and Sam Parkin

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

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No more international breaks until March!? Hallelujah!

Matt Davies-Adams has got Cerys Jones and Luke Bosher along for the ride as we relish the return of the Premier League - and Saturday's long trip to Turf Moor to take on Burnley.

We've got a round up of the international Blues in action - before pondering how that will impact upon Enzo Maresca's ever-unpredictable team selection, why this could be a big opportunity for Liam Delap to kickstart his season - and whether Cole Palmer should be risked with Barca and Arsenal on the horizon?!

CFCW suffered disappointment at the weekend, held to a 1-1 draw by bottom of the table Liverpool to see them fall three points behind Man City at the top of the WSL table. Can they use that as fuel when they face old foes Barcelona in the Champions League on Thursday night?

We'll be back on Monday to round up events in Lancashire - and look ahead to the visit of Spanish champions Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday!

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HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Luke Bosher and Cerys Jones

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

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165 games later...

Matt Davies-Adams has got Cerys Jones and Liam Twomey alongside him for the seismic fallout from Malo Gusto scoring his first ever senior goal - which got the ball rolling on Chelsea's ultimately incredibly comfortable 3-0 win over Wolves at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night.

We talk the ongoing great rotation debate, whether starboy Estêvão should be in from the start - and whether this enforced break will give some of the team a chance to get back to something like full fitness after a punishing schedule.

Cerys did the double-header on Saturday, also in place at The Emirates for the eventful 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Chelsea in the WSL. We've got reaction to that one and a simply sensational first league goal from Alyssa Thompson.

We'll take a pause for the last international break until March (hallelujah!) - but return the back end of next week to look ahead to the trip to Turf Moor AND the visit of Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek.

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HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Cerys Jones and Liam Twomey

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

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Qarabag had lost all seven of their previous matches against English opposition, but that's fine...

Producer Lucy's got reaction from the 2-2 draw with the Azerbaijani champions out in Baku - with Cerys Jones across the game for The Athletic on a night where the Blues avoided the embarrassment of a shock defeat, but still suffered a major blow to their hopes of finishing in the top eight of the league phase table.

Are Chelsea suffering due to the ongoing lack of stability in the starting XI? Why was there such little urgency from the heavily-rotated side? And what does this mean going into the visit of Wolves on Saturday?!

Matt Davies-Adams will be back with a full show on Monday looking back on that game under the lights at Stamford Bridge, as well as the huge WSL clash between Arsenal and Chelsea.

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0.05 xG?!?

Matt Davies-Adams is accompanied by two of The Athletic's finest - Simon Johnson and Luke Bosher - to look back on the 1-0 victory over Tottenham.

It was a rather bizarre evening without major incident compared to the recent mayhem between these two sides - but we discuss the complete nullification of Spurs, Robert Sanchez's impressive command of his box (while hearing from the man himself) - and run out of ways to describe just how magnificent Moises Caicedo is.

The Blues have got a long midweek trip to Qarabağ to navigate on Wednesday night. We preview that game and ponder just how many changes we'll see from the utterly unpredictable Enzo Maresca.

Elsewhere - CFCW were back in domestic action and back to winning ways after their hard-fought 2-0 win over London City Lionesses to maintain their 1-point lead at the top of the WSL table. Plus - we're all Team Hannah Hampton!

We'll be back later in the week with some quick-fire reaction to Wednesday's trip to Azerbaijan - before Matt and the gang return on Monday to bring you the fallout from Saturday evening's visit of Wolves in the Premier League.

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HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Luke Bosher and Simon Johnson

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

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Five wins in a row is a myth...

Matt Davies-Adams is joined by Sam Parkin and full debutant Cerys Jones to look back on the late 2-1 defeat by Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.

We begin with the verdict of Simon Johnson direct from the press box in SW6 - before dissecting some of the finer points of the disappointing performance and result including the struggles of Joao Pedro and Marc Guiu, Enzo Maresca's somewhat perplexing selections - and the lack of defensive stability which is causing concern.

We've got a midweek trip to genuine crisis club Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup last 16 to look forward to - offering our predicted starting XI's ahead of a game that now feels like it's grown in importance with the visit to Tottenham just around the corner.

We'll be back on Monday with all the fallout from Saturday evening's trip across to our old friends Spurs - and to look ahead to the long trip to Qarabag in the Champions League!

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HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Cerys Jones and Sam Parkin

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

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Don't they know Chelsea are the ones who get the red cards?!

Producer Lucy's got reaction to the 5-1 rout of Ajax at a rainy Stamford Bridge with analysis from the press box provided by Blues reporter Simon Johnson and The Athletic's Senior Data Analyst Mark Carey.

10 changes but no problems for Enzo Maresca's side - who made a little bit of history by becoming the first team to have three teenagers score in a Champions League match.

Who stood out in the circumstances? How impressive were the youngsters? And how does this set them up for the visit of Sunderland on Saturday?

Matt Davies-Adams will be back on Monday to review that meeting with the Black Cats - and look ahead to the trip to Molineux to face Wolves in the League Cup!

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