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2011/03/07

Holloway eyes another upset

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway believes his side can pull off another famous victory when they take on Chelsea.

The Seasiders have already recorded impressive home wins over Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur since the turn of the year, but with only two points currently separating them from the Barclays Premier League relegation zone, they could do with something similar against the Blues at Bloomfield Road.

Following the 3-1 triumph against Spurs on 22nd February, Holloway's team were swiftly brought down to earth when they were hammered 4-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers four days later - the same score by which they were defeated at Stamford Bridge back in September.




Bouncing back with a win over the champions on Monday night looks a tall order, but Holloway is convinced his players have it in them to upset the odds once again.

tad fortunate

"We've talked about what went wrong at their (Chelsea's) place, and spoken about Wolves very quickly and then moved on because it is important not to dwell on things," Holloway said.

"You can only do something about the next one and that is something we have handled really well.

"What we need is a response and who's to say we can't do to Chelsea what we did to Tottenham.

"If you look at the Tottenham game they had more possession, double the shots, but our finishing was lethal on the day.

"We need things to go our way and they will have to go better than they have ever to get three points off Chelsea.

"I believe we can get three points but we are going to have to be a tad fortunate and play the best we have played."

Blackpool will be without their top-scorer DJ Campbell and captain Charlie Adam for the contest.

Campbell begins a three-match suspension after he was sent off at Wolves, while Adam serves the second of his two-match ban for picking up 10 yellow cards this season.

Defender Stephen Crainey, who has not made a first-team appearance since 22nd January due to an ankle injury, is in line to return against the Blues and midfielder Elliot Grandin, absent for the last two matches with a hamstring problem, has an outside chance of being involved.

However, the match will come too soon for Gary Taylor-Fletcher (hamstring) and Matt Gilks (knee).