You're Av-ing a laugh

Danny Fullbrook told the Sunday Supplement there is no chance of Avram Grant and Chelsea doing the quadruple.

Chelsea won't win the quadruple. That was the succint verdict of Danny Fullbrook as the Sunday Supplement discussed the impossible dream which is still a reality at Stamford Bridge. The Blues are four points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United, into the fifth round of the FA Cup, the last 16 of the Champions League and face a Carling Cup final showdown with Spurs in February. That has all been achieved since losing Jose Mourinho as well, but for Fulbrook the talk of Avram Grant being the new Special One and his side lifting four trophies, is all a little premature. "I don't think they can do the quadruple," he told the Sunday Supplement. "I don't think it's possible. I think they'll get beaten by one of the other big teams but what I will say is, if they keep playing like this, with their players back, with Nicolas Anelka in the squad and with the draw against Olympiacos, they have got a fantastic chance of winning the Champions League this season. And that, for Roman Abramovich, would be the icing on the cake. "Last season at times they had no (Petr) Cech, no (John) Terry, no (Ricardo) Carvalho yet they went on to win two cups, so let's wait and see how they get on. But when he needed players in the transfer window last January Jose Mourinho wasn't allowed to buy anybody, but Avram Grant has been allowed to spend £30million - on the young Chilean and Anelka - when they were in trouble. "I think we're jumping too quickly. This is still the team Jose Mourinho made and I think a lot of the credit sill lies with him." That's not to say Fullbrook is not impressed by Grant.

Brilliantly

He might not hog the headlines like his Portuguese predecessor and he might treat the press with "cynicism and sarcasm" according to Fullbrook, but he is doing all the right things. But, says the Daily Star man, he is doing it with the strongest squad in the country - and possibly beyond. "He hasn't won anything yet," he said. "Jose Mourinhop won five trophies and Avram Grant hasn't won anything, so I think we have to reserve judgement until the end of the season. "What I will say for him is his team have done brilliantly. I think one element is theirs is the strongest squad in the Premier League, it has the greatest depth to it, without a doubt. "They've had all these players missing and up until last weekend, they still had the German captain in midfield - he got injured before Wednesday's game - they had Claude Makelele, who is one of the best holding midfielders we've seen in years and they had the two England wingers in Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Quite feasibly that could be the starting midfield all season and that was when he had five midfielders missing! "But there is something right going on - whether it's the shackles being taken off, whether it's actually for once about the players, the team and the football, because perhaps Jose's greatest mistake was the way he dominated the headlines so much."