The FA Cup schedule picks up on Sunday after a busy day on Saturday and one of the early matches has Chelsea visiting Derby County and the match is for Round 3 of the tournament and it will be at The iPro Stadium and the Blues are looking to stay on a roll after winning their past three English Premier League matches since pulling a draw with Arsenal and the matchup on Sunday starts at 9:15 am ET and will be streaming on the Fox Soccer 2Go website.
Chelsea comes in after a dominating win on the road against Southampton and that came after a close win over Liverpool on the weekend after Boxing Day that was a crucial result and now the team is threatening the top of the EPL standings as the January schedule unfolds. The club plays next against Hull City on the road before a tough set of games with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge and then the team has West Ham before another major matchup with Manchester City. Chelsea has a chance to get back to the top of the league table, as Arsenal is currently leading things and they are above Manchester City and the Blues, while Everton is in fifth place just behind Liverpool, who has gotten some great play from Luis Suarez and he is leading the EPL in scoring.
Tottenham is right behind Everton on the table and Manchester United is in seventh place and they are slowly moving up and David Moyes is confident that the club can get to the top of the table somehow. They are ahead of Newcastle and Southampton, while Hull City and Aston Villa are next. The FA Cup had a heap of matches on Saturday with Manchester City pulling to a draw with Blackburn in a 1-1 match in the early part of the schedule, while Aston Villa lost to Sheffield, Everton won big over Queens Park, Cardiff City won over Newcastle, Norwich City and Fulham had a 1-1 tie, Stoke City won over Leicester, Crystal Palace won over West Brom and in the late match, Arsenal won over Tottenham Hotspur in the Emirates for a 2-0 victory.
Check here for the Blues live coverage for the Chelsea and Derby match.
Chelsea's Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel is in the running for a major award as the top footballer from Africa and while it isn't likely that he will win, the star said he was honored to be considered and on Sunday he will be relied on for the Blues to win in the FA Cup in their match and it comes as the English Premier League picks up next week after the busy holiday schedule. The Blues are near the top of the table and they are battling with Manchester City and Arsenal for the top of the EPL standings and after playing on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, the club will have their Round 3 FA Cup match before the EPL picks up next weekend and here is a look at the award from Reuters.com. Yaya Toure remained on course to be named African Footballer of the Year for a record-equaling third successive time after being named on Wednesday as one of the three finalists for the award to be handed out later this month.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) cut the list of candidates for the 2013 award down from 10, with Toure up against his Ivory Coast teammate Didier Drogba and Chelsea's Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel.
A poll of national team coaches from all 54 African countries will decide the winner, who will be named at a gala ceremony in Lagos on January 9.
Among those dropped from the list were Mohamed Aboutrika, the veteran Egyptian midfielder who in November steered his club Al Ahli to a fifth Champions League successes inside a decade.
Also missing out was Jonathan Pitroipa, the star of the Burkina Faso side who fell just short at the African Nations Cup in South Africa at the start of the year and the World Cup qualifying playoffs.
Both were expected to be the closest challengers to Toure, the favorite in a year in which there were no outstanding individual achievers.
Toure helped the Ivory Coast to World Cup qualification and reaffirmed his position as a leading figure in the English Premier League with Manchester City.
If he succeeds, the midfield colossus will become the third player to win the award three years in a row, matching the achievement of Ghana's Abedi Pele from 1991-93 and Samuel Eto'o from 2003 to 2005.
Mikel is nominated on the back of his role in helping Nigeria to win the Nations Cup at the start of 2013.
Drogba is a two-time winner but the Galatasaray striker is a surprise finalists this time round after a year in which he was dropped by the Ivory Coast national team.
(Reuters)
