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Chelsea get their excuses in early....

Japanese flight laws and the sending off of Gary Cahill might be trotted out if Chelsea do slip up on Wednesday night against Neil Warnock's men.

No doubt you could barely raise any apathy whatsoever and the news that Chelsea faltered in the World Club Championships to Corinthians of Brazil will barely register on your radar. If you really are that interested Paulo Guerrero scored the only goal of the game, making it trauma in Tokyo for Rafa Benitez's Blues.

No doubt Ken Bates' old club wanted to do what we all wish he would do, make a sharp exit, however due to bizarre Japenese flight laws the Londoners cannot depart until the morning meaning they will arrive back in the Capital just 48 hours before the Capital One Quarter Final at ER having endured a gruelling 6000 mile flight.

Cynics will point out given the size of their squad, Rafa could make enough changes to send a side north who will give us more of a game than the last side from London did in these parts in this competition last week. One player who will be missing is Gary Cahill, who was sent off in the meaningless Toyko final for a kick he later described "I touch him on the shin and it probably wouldn't knock over my one-year-old daughter, yet he was rolling around five or six times."

Hopefully Cahill will use Wednesday to spend some quality time with his daughter rather than practicing his tackling on her!

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