OK. I think I may finally be over what happened to Ireland on Wednesday in Fra … no,wait … AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! …

Alright, now I’m over it. Don’t worry. I’m not going to discuss it because we don’t need another person to just state the obvious. Also, it’s a lot easier to get over these things when your team threatens to hang an eight-spot on their competition.

I think the key word to come away with from Saturday’s game is “depth.” Chelsea has impressed all season long with its quality, but on Saturday they did it with their depth. The Blues were missing Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack, along with the long-term absence of Jose Bosingwa and still managed three goals before the 25 minute mark. A sensational goal from Florent Malouda, two from Michael Essien and Joe Cole’s first in 13 months secured the comfortable 4-0 win at the Bridge.

Also notable was Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to give the young guys some solid game time.Fabio Borini received another run out while Nemanja Matic and Gael Kakuta saw their first Premier League minutes. Most interesting was the play of Gael Kakuta. After his youth signing may have caused Chelsea to forfeit the right to sign players until 2011, many were hoping that he’d be forth all the fuss – and I think he might be. He played all over the midfield and was never afraid to let along-range shot fly, almost fooling Wayne Hennessy with one from about 35 out.For a team that, by and large, has produced its success from the transfer window, it’s great to see so much young talent coming out of the Chelsea reserves. This isa quickly aging team and the promise of youth is a Godsend.

It should also be mentioned that Wolves may have eclipsed Portsmouth as the worst team in the league at this point. As Pompey kick off at the Britannia today, Wolves have a three point lead on them but Portsmouthhave shown, at the very least, that they can score goals. The same cannot be said for Wolverhampton. When it’s all said and done, don’t be shocked to find them at the bottom of the table when the season is over. Barring any kind of unforeseen move for offense in the January transfer window, this is a team that just does not have any Premier League talent anywhere at the moment. This is a bit of a surprise to me because of how dominant Michael Kightly and Sylan Ebanks-Blake were in the Championship. I didn’t expect them to replicate this in the Prem but I did expect them to at least show up against their weaker competition. Kightly, specifically, has been a major disappointment so far. Watching him healthy last season he resembled Ashley Young as a fast wing threat. This season he has barely seen the starting eleven.

The good news for Chelsea is that they will have their big performers back for the midweek match in Porto and, as a result, the derby match at the Emirates on Sunday. Having Drogba and Lampard back against Arsenal will prove to be significant because the Gunners have caught the injury bug at the worst time.Robin Van Persie is out until the new year and without him Arsenal lacked the scoring threat that has been their bread and butter all season when they fell1-0 to Sunderland. The absence of Gael Clichy could also prove to be significant as the teams that have cause Chelsea the most trouble this season have pushed forward with their fullbacks – thus exposing Chelsea’s habit of getting a little too narrow in the midfield.

You never know what you’re going to get in a derby, but I think Chelsea have the leg up heading into this one. They will be, for the most part, healthy and play far too tightly in back to allow the smaller Arsenal forwards any space. I would look for a 2-0 Chelsea win.

Written by Nick Degel, The Official ChelseaFC Blogger of the Goalmouth Scramble