Blackburn: Robinson, Simpson, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Olsson, Grella, Warnock, Villanueva, Andrews, Pedersen, Roberts.
Subs: Brown, Samba, Kerimoglu, Mokoena, Fowler, Treacy, Derbyshire.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Bridge, Lampard, Mikel, Deco, Kalou, Anelka, Malouda.
Subs: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Sinclair, Ferreira, Mineiro, Belletti.

Referee: Chris Foy (Earth).

Preamble:
I've seen post-wedding bashes conclude in bilious rows and bloody knife-fights but today the Guardian's rinky-dink 10 inch TV is putting in a strong claim for the worst reception of all time. Sky Sports 1 is currently just a nauseating haze (resist, obvious joke peddlers), and repeated punches to the screen have mysteriously failed to improve matters.

Still, we probably don't need to see the action to know how this match is going to go: Blackburn haven't won in five games and have scored a mere three home goals this season - and today they're deprived of Roque Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy, as well as the long-term injured Steven Reid, so they willn't be finding the net (certainly not in the second half, what with Chelsea being the only side in the country not to have conceded a second half league goal). The home side may not get any goals but since Paul Ince has retained the X-rated factor that Mark Hughes instilled, they'll probably cop several yellow cards: an impressive 15 Rovers have already been booked this season and, as if to further their reputation as the league's outlaws, Blackburn have also perpetrated more handballs than any other team in the top flight. All in all, then, Blackburn are the sort of humdrum opponents Chelsea have been tonking this season, prompting oleaginous tributes from pundits before putting in plodsome performances in the really big games (versus Liverpool, almost all their Champions League opponents and even Spurs). They'll still win the league, of course.

1.26pm: The teams waddle out onto a pitch rendered slick by incessant rain.

1 min: After a little huddle, Blackburn set the game in motion and within seconds Andrews fires a reasonable effort over the bar from 25 yards.

3 mins: So-so start. In other news, a raindrop has been poised right at the tip of Anelka's nose since kick-off and it stubbonrly refuses to fall - it's almost an incitement to punch the striker.

5 mins: Penalty! But no! Anelka intercepted a desperately short back pass from Andrews and rounded Robinson, who appears to catch him with a trailing foot. Anelka goes down and Chelsea bay for a sptokick! Incredibly the ref waves play on, suggesting he thinks the striker, jsut 12 yards from an open goal, simply slipped. Or Dived. Replay is inconclusive, on this rubbish TV at least.

6 mins: This time there's no doubt Anelka has been denied legitimately, Robinson's save from his powerful close range header being perfectly fair and, indeed, very good.

8 mins: Grella lofts one over the top for lone-striker Roberts to chase. He does so, but Cech gets there first.

9 mins: Another decision goes in the home side's favour, Blackburn being given a corner after one of their players appeared to knock the ball out of play. The delivery is wretched.

11 mins: Wonderful skill by Malouda, who slalomed past two and then dinked the ball out wide for Bridge. Only problem was Bridge wasn't there. These details are important, Florent.

13 mins: Chelsea are well on top, and again have come close to openign the scoring. Bosingwa swung a fine cross in from the touchline and Anelka peeled away from his marker before sending a strong downward header towards goals. Robinson made another decent save. Moments later Terry strode up from the back to nod a corner just over the bar. Prediction: Chelsea will score within the next seven minutes.

15 mins: Blackburn are bewitched by Chelsea's movement. Malouda curls in a freekick and Mikel's header is kept out by the combination of Robinson and a goalpost.

17 mins: It seems nobody has explained to Kalou that his team are not yet 5-0 up, so the forward has begun showboating, eschewing a basic pass to the unmarked Anelka to attempt an elaborate overheaded backheel number.

19 mins: The rain continues to beat the ground like a distraught Bayern Munich defender, and with puddles beginning to appear on the pitch the commentators are starting to worry that if this continues the game might be abandoned. Is that a rain dance Paul Ince is doing on the sideline?

20 mins: Chelsea romp forward yet again and Anelka chips a cross to Malouda, whose shot is deflected over the bar. The pressure on Blackburn is relentless.

21 mins: Robinson excels to divert a trademark Lampard wobbler out for a corner. It's headed clear, but comes straight back. Again and again and again.

23 mins: A chance for Blackburn! They opened Chelsea up with a rapid counter and when the ball was fizzed across the box to Villenueva, the midfielder unleashed a fierce shot that Cech did well to parry.

26 mins: Sky's Alan Smith keeps harping on about the rain, seemingly almost willing the ref to postpone this game. Ironically, the slippy conditions have conincided with Blackburn getting a foothold in the game, and Cech has just had to react smartly to intercept a vicious cross. Meanwhile, this from a in-no-way stereotypical loadsmoney Chelsea fan. "Thanks for the witty and timely updates," licks Tom in Knightsbridge. "Whilst my girlfriend is shopping in Harrods I thought I'd watch the game at one of the many pubs around it. Not a single one showing the football! One, which has sky sports etc., said it doesn't 'do football on S29 minundays'. Scandalous!"

29 mins: Lampard lashes a freekick well wide. Weather update: apparently the officials have been in contact with the Met Office, who've told them the rain should stop within the next 15 minutes. Time to get dancing again, Incey!

30 mins: Lampard reacts petulantly to a tug by Grella, giving the Aussie a girly push in the back. "I see you have complained about the low quality of your TV reception," slithers Duncan Melville. "A poor workmans blames his tools." I am not a poor workman, Duncan. I may, however, be a complete tool.

33 mins: That's Robinson's best save so far! Kalou led a Chelsea raid and then offloaded to Anelka, who cut inside and rifled a low shot goalward from 14 yards. England's former custodian dived full length to tip it behind for a corner. "I'm enjoying the old-school no fancy pictures for me style MBM today," hurrahs Charlie Wilson. "By the way, is it OK to like the football Chelsea have been playing this season (much as it pains me for some reason), or are highlights shows giving me a false impression?" I'd say that you're impressions is mostly correct, Charlie, but since your email also reveals that you're are a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford I don't want to engage with your for fear I am the unwitting subject of some sinister mind game.

36 mins: Lampard pounces on a breaking ball 25 yards from goal and lets fly, bringing yet another decent stop from Robinson.

38 mins: Freekick to Chelsea: Alex blems in straight into the wall, but with such force that it cannons off them and out for a corner.

GOAL! Blackburn 0-1 Chelsea (Anelka 39')

39 mins: In the end, it took a monumental fluke to beat Robinson. Bosingwa received the ball some 40 yards out and, undeterred by the keeper's sensational form, decided to have a pop. His swirler took a huge deflection off Anelka's thigh and trickled into the net past the wrongfooted Robinson, who could probably have recovered had he not been appealing for an offside or something. And with that, hot on the heels of his simple hat-trick last week, Anelka becomes the Premier League's top scrorer

42 mins: Mikel needlessly concedes a freekick by mandhandling Pedersen to the ground. Villanueva curls it in and Cech, perhaps just to spice things up, decidees to punch it back into a clutch of players around the penalty spot. Terry clears. "It was a bit odd that during the minute's silence at the start of the game, you couldn't hear anything," reckons Jonny Bull before advancing his conspiracy theory. "No mobile phones going off, nobody coughing, no random inaudible point being made and then shouted down. You know, the usual hallmarks of minute silences. Having respectfully switched over from Five Live to Sky during the silence, it became clear Sky had turned off their microphones in the ground. This follows on from the Sunderland v Newcastle game where it was a surprise to anyone watching live on Sky that there was trouble at the game, due to the choice of footage shown. When exactly did the Premier League and Sky start this propaganda for The Greatest League in the World?"

44 mins: Blackburn substitution, enforced by injury: Grella off, Mokoena on.

45 mins: The half-time whistle is greeted by furious boos from the Ewood Park faithful. Why? Moira has a theory: "The goal came via Anelka's hand, not his thigh," (s)he bellows, belying my TV images.

Half-time "Perhaps I'm mistaken," blurts Philip Hucknall. "But when the goal trickled into the net wasn't it sufficiently close to Robinson - and travelling slowly enough - that he could easily have stopped it if he wasn't so busy claiming a non-existent handball? It looked to me that after all his perfectly decent shot-stopping, a basic mental error let him down once again." Having just seen a replay, I must agree with you, Philip. Thus the campaign to get him back into the England squad is stillborn. So Chris Kirkland should still be the new No1.

46 mins: The rain has stopped, the match has resumed, the picture is still woeful.

47 mins: Can you believe that I forgot to mention that during the break Blackburn replaced Andrews with Matt Derbyshire?

49 mins: Freekick to Blackburn in a dangerous area. Terry repelled Pedersen's poor effort. "In these rain-sodden condition, we really miss Mourinho," chirps Bertil Murunga. "He would be contrasting his players with the Almighty, saying 'he may have walked, but Jesus never played football on water!'"

51 mins: Terry wrongfoots Cech with a misplaced back pass, but the keeper recovers before Roberts can punish England's heroic skipper.

52 mins: Chelsea don't almost score. That's worth mentioning. "Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea," croon the visiting fans, who may have loadsamoney, but don't have much imaginatioin.

54 mins: Chelsea have dropped the tempo since the first half and Blackburn are coming back into the game. They almost equalised right there after Roberts took down a Pedersen ball on the edge of the box, turned Terry with ridiculous ease, and rifled the ball straight at t he out-rushing Cech.

56 mins: As Kalou is off the pitch receiving treatment after colliding with hoarding behind the goal, Bosingwa attempts to instigate an attack by is foiled by the dogged Olsson.

58 mins: Chelsea may be the only team in the league not to have conceded a second-half goal, but they're putting that record in jeopardy with some unforgivable slackness at the moment. They have simply dropped their stadnards from the first half, and Blackburn are growing ever more bvibrant and cutting. All of which risks making the next email look a little premature. "In these austere times, couldn't we save ourselves a lot of trouble and a ton of money by fast-forwarding to the Liverpool vs Chelsea clash at Anfield to decide first and second place and the Manchester United vs Arsenal return to allocate third and fourth?" blabs gary Naylor. "West Ham, Fulham, West Brom and Stoke can play a round-robin for the three relegation slots and the rest can do rock, paper, scissors."

59 mins: Villanueva has pushed further forward to play jsut behind Roberts and Chelsea have failed to get to grips with him. They can be thankful that, from the edge of the box just now, the Chilean ballooned the ball over the bar.

62 mins: As Chelsea circulated the ball nicely to try to re-establish their primacy, Warnock offers them an abrupt reminder that they are now in a proper contest by ruggedly robbing Kalou. And on that note, Scolari decides to withdraw the Ivorian and replace him with Belletti.

65 mins: Lampard and Deco are probing as ever, but most of Chelsea's attacking impetus is coming from Bosingwa, who's rollicking down the right at every opportunity. Malouda, it has been reported, is still on the pitch, though cameras have not been able to pick him up this half.

68 mins: GOAL! Blackburn 0-2 Chelsea (Anelka)

68 mins: This time it was a supremely slick finish by the Frenchman. Lampard slid onto a loose ball at the edge of the box and, under pressure, poked it through to Anelka, who lifted it expertly over the keeper, who'd dived into the water at his feet.

70 mins: Cech comes to claim a freekick that Villanueva had curled dangerously towards the six-yard box.

72 mins: And now Chelsea can jsut sit back and absorb whatever Blackburn can muster, while remaining primed to strike on the break. But they could do without Mikel conceding dumb freekicks that give Pedersen a chance to fire the ball into the box. Bosingwa knocked his delivery out for a corner, and from the ensuing flagkick Mokena sidefoots the ball over the bar from eight yards.

76 mins: Without looking particularly menacing, as you'd expect without Santa Cruz and McCarthy, Blackburn are still zipping the ball about reasonably well and can't be entirely written off yet. Well, they could at least get a consolation goal. But hold on, what's this? Roberts, who's looked lively, has been taken off and replaced by Robbie Fowler, who merely looks podgy.

78 mins: Tum-te-tum. Nothing much to say. And no indication that you care.

80 mins: Chelsea are starting to strut, and Simpson doesn't like it: he gets booked for tripping Malouda. Lampard steps up to take the freekick - and smaks it against the crossbar from 30 yards! Robinson got a finger to it, so it'll be a corner.

81 mins: The corner provokes all sorts of havoc in the Blackburn box, first a Lampard shot was blocked and then Mikel hooked the ball back acorss the face of goal and Terry somehow managed to shoot backwards! Deco sought to distract attention from that hilarious miss with a delicate lob into the top corner, but he overhit it and Blackburn are spared.

83 mins: The match is ptering out. "Paul Ince was quick to belittle Celtic's away performance at Old Trafford, but his team are 2-0 down at home to Chelsea - not so clever now is he?" chortles a creature calling itself The Executive Koala.

85 mins: Blackburn are still going through the motions, in fairness. Pedersen hoiked in a decent cross and Derbyshire nodded politely to Cech.

88 mins: That should have been a second consecutive hat-trick for Anelka! Lampard slipped him through with a lovely ball and as Robinson came out it looked like the striker was going to lift it over him again but instead he fired straight at him and the chance died.

90+1 mins: The Blackburn stadium announcer has just named Pedersen as man of the match, which is quite a claim. Lampard or Bosingwa were the more obvious choices. Deco, who's jsut been replaced by Paulo Ferreira, was relatively subdued.

Full-time Nothing too much for Paul Ince to be alarmed about here, Blackburn were decent and suggested their six-game winless run will won't go on much longer. It's just that Chelsea were better.