Branislav Ivanovic

Branislav Ivanovic | Serbia & Chelsea Superstar

Chelsea lost the Community Shield to Arsenal amid shoddy pre-season preparations and transfer market issues, but there are bigger concerns for the Premier League champs. The Gunners might have stolen the title through a penalty shootout (after a red card to Pedro handed them the advantage in the closing minutes), but the game exposed loopholes in the Blues setup.

After a poor start last season, the 3-4-2-1 masterpiece switch helped Chelsea leap forward. Two creative forces played behind the striker, with the wing backs excellent in support. The lack of distractions helped the regular team focus on the league and they bonded. Now there is the added factor of the Champions League which will force rotation, and create tension in the team.

The Champions League playoff draw is slated for Friday August 4, 2017. The playoff sides would know which teams they would be facing for a chance to reach the finals later in the year.

Premier League fourth place side Liverpool would be seeded along with Serie A team Napoli, Spanish side Sevilla, Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon and Russia top flight club CSKA Moscow. They would be paired against any of Bundesliga side Hoffenheim, Turkish Super Lig side Istanbul Basaksehir, Swiss side BSC Young Boys, Ligue 1 side Nice or Romanian side Steaua Bucharest.

Zenit is yet to play its first game under the new boss Mancini, but, the skipper of the club Domenico Criscito is showering praises on him already.

Mancini has been roped in by Zenit on the place of Mircea Lucescu whose solitary season in charge was not very successful. Under him, the Lions failed to make it to Europe as they finished no. 3 in the standings of the top tier.

After making over 250 appearances for the English Premier League club Chelsea, Branislav Ivanovic opted to make a transfer to the Russian outfit Zenit Saint Petersburg on a 2 and a half year contract.

The veteran defender had the chance to join other clubs from different leagues including the Chinese Super League but he got lured on making a move to Zenit St. Petersburg and the 33 year old footballer has talked about this switch as well as his reasoning behind the move.

Serbia international Branislav Ivanovic is confident of bagging a victory over Wales in their World Cup qualifier against Wales on Sunday.

Chris Coleman's side will be without the services of Gareth Bale through suspension, and this could provide Serbia the edge over their European counterparts.

Despite Premier League leaders Chelsea clear to lift the title this week, head coach Antonio Conte has said that the team was still building.

Conte could do a double this term in winning the league and the FA Cup – though they have Arsenal to contend with – but he insists that more is yet to come as the team was in “transition.”

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has admitted that the blues will have to go through a transition period in order to replace players like John obi Mikel and Branislav Ivanovic.

These two players have been the heartbeat of Chelsea over the last decade, even though they have not been spectacular during this period, they were certainly steady and helped the club go through several tough periods with relative ease. Ivanovic and Mikel were allowed to leave the club during the January transfer window. The former joint Zenit St Petersburg and quickly created history by becoming the first player to score at the new Zenit Arena, which will also be hosting Confederations Cup games.

Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndid has revealed that he was a Chelsea fan for long while in Nigeria far before he got the chance to play top flight English football.

Ndidi said Blues stars John Terry and Nigerian international John Obi Mikel were his inspiration to play football growing up as a young boy in Lagos, Nigeria.

Premier League leaders Chelsea are in search for a replacement for right back Victor Moses after the Nigerian picked up an injury that seemed to rattle the team.

The Blues are reportedly scouting Hoffenheim’s Jeremy Toljan and Atalanta’s Andrea Conti. \

Former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic compared his former managers Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, upon leaving England during the winter transfer window.

The Serbian said that most players would prefer to play under a ‘calm’ Ancelotti than let Mourinho manage them.