Chelsea Hope To Get A Good Atmosphere For A Low Profile Match

Premier League leaders Chelsea FC will take on Bradford City AFC at the fourth round of the FA Cup on Jan.24th. Chelsea FC are in the contention to win all four competitions that they are still playing in. Apart from the Premier League, which they top, they are playing a two legged semi-final against Liverpool in the League Cup and will face Paris Saint-Germain in another two-legged tie in the round of 16 at the UEFA Champions League.

Bradford City, managed by Phil Parkinson, play in the League One. They are presently at the fifth position on the league table. After 25 matches they have won 10, drawn six and lost the other nine matches. They have scored 32 goals and conceded 29 in return.

In the last five matches played across all competitions they have won two, lost two and drawn the other. At the League Cup they were knocked out in the third round by Milton Keynes Dons. At the Football League Trophy they were knocked out in the first round by Oldham United. Billy Knott is their overall top scorer with seven goals and James Hanson is the league top scorer with five strikes.

Rather than the opposition the home team should have to worry about the atmosphere in the stadium. Back in November manager Jose Mourinho had blasted the crowd by saying that he felt that Chelsea were playing in front of an empty stadium. There has been a lot of speculation in the media that the west London club might use artificial crowd noise to boost the atmosphere in the stadium. This rumour has been subsequently denied by the club chairman Bruce Buck.

"Every club is looking to improve the match day experience, but we can't have recorded fan noise-our fans wouldn't accept that," Buck clarified on the matter.

Chelsea's home record under Mourinho is phenomenal. It should be nearly impossible for a team playing in the third division to have any impact on the result of the match before the Blues take on Manchester City in the Premier League.

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