Why is the Chelsea Football Club's squad so ancient? This appears to be because various spendthrift managers shelled out loads of money for players at their peak with no regard for their long-term contracts or re-sale value. Replacing these dinosaurs without the use of Abramovich's dollars, roubles or goodwill has now become quite an issue for a club whose squad, in the main, now park their zimmer frames alongside their Bentleys. So have Chelsea blown it totally or will those creaking bones make it to the end of the season now they've exited Europe's biggest stage and dropped yet another couple of points?

As Inter showed in the Champions League, one bunch of really old gits are quite capable of knocking over another bunch of old gits. Especially when they've a more street-wise manager than Chelsea's. In all honesty the Chelsea-Inter Champions League match was like watching two has-been heavyweights slug it out when both were clearly well past their sell-by dates. Plenty of experience on show but just a few flashes of inspiration from Inter were enough to see off the flash London wannabes.

Their match with Rovers showed us little or no football, but by the end of the game we saw one bunch of diving hoofers trying to out do the other bunch and delightfully the Chavs dropped two more points. They have now blagged a rather pitiful 7 from 15 in their last five league games. Rovers rattled their zimmer frames and hung on. Chelsea's fabulously cultured, expensive and experienced squad of internationals showed us just how much class and how many millions it takes to hoof it down the middle in the vain hope that the 32 year-old Dogsbreath might latch onto something. He didn't. For much of the game I was wondering what the hell Steve Bennett would do or give next, in a match where about half a dozen cards for diving wouldn't have been too many at all.

But these Chelsea pensioners now beg the question, have the Chavs even got the staying power to sustain a reasonable run-in for the Premiership? Will (load of) Ballacks (33 years ancient) be prepared to knacker himself out for their cause prior to this summer’s World Cup? Can Lumphard (31) any longer shuffle forward to score as he used to? Why haven't Hilario (34), Belletti (33) and Deco (32) all long since been put down and how much longer do their now entirely useless, to Chelsea, contracts have to run? Is Ferreira (31) just counting his money or will he get another game or two and what's happened to Carvalho (31)?

Can Anelka (31) be bothered or is he too saving himself for South Africa? Has Terry (30) not only lost the plot and run out of steam, despite his ability to run over Chelsea's staff? Of their other experienced players only Malouda (29) is currently cutting the mustard so judging by his sustained effort it would appear his World Cup berth in the French squad is maybe uncertain. Cashley (29) is now taking longer to recover from injuries. Following his long-term injury Joe Cole (28) is struggling to both nail down a new contract and regain a place in the first eleven. They have Essien, a sprightly 27 year-old but with no return date and the youthful Boswingwa (27) out till the summer. While Hilario has an alleged groin strain (and we all know how that was caused), Cech is out till the end of March so here's hoping they try and rush him back far too soon. Has time finally been called on the blue flag's zimmerframe brigade? If it has then could the league possibly end up as a two horse race?