As we head into the busy festive period, we take another look at the Chelsea players currently doing the business away from Stamford Bridge.
Claudio Pizarro, on loan with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen was a thorn in the side of former Chelsea manager José Mourinho last night, opening the scoring as the Germans ran out 2-1 winners against Inter in the Champions League.
However, Pizarro and his temporary team-mates still missed out on qualification for the knockout rounds and head into the Uefa Cup.
Domestically, Bremen sit in mid-table after a mixed run of form. Pizarro received his marching orders at the end of last weekend's defeat to Karlsruher, a game that followed a 5-0 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt, when our Peruvian forward helped himself to a hat-trick before being substituted just after the hour.
Those strikes took the 30-year-old to 10 league goals for the season, coming from just 13 starts.
Back in England, there are five Blues plying their trade in the Championship, after Liam Bridcutt's move to link up with Brendan Rodgers at Watford.
The midfielder impressed on his debut for the Hornets against Doncaster, and followed that up with a strong display in front of the TV cameras against Tottenham a week ago.
He also featured for 68 minutes in the 3-2 defeat to high-flying Birmingham at the weekend.
Alex McLeish's side sit second in the table behind Wolves, where Michael Mancienne continues to make the headlines.
The 20-year-old has started six of his seven games for Mick McCarthy's side, of which they have won five and drawn one, conceding just five goals in the processs.
Back in mid-November, Wolves beat Southampton 2-1, a game which saw Mancienne come head-to-head with Chelsea team-mate Jack Cork.
The Saints continue to struggle near the foot of the Championship, but Cork has still impressed coach Jan Poortvliet.
He was also given a special honour for one so young, making a trip to Switzerland to make the draw for the 2009/10 Under-19 Championships at Uefa's headquarters. In his role as England Under-19 captain, Cork also picked up a Fair Play award in recognition of England's sporting conduct in last summer's championships.
Just one place above Southampton are Norwich, where Ryan Bertrand is in his second spell, playing on the left flank, usually in defence. The Chelsea man was a winner in the East Anglian derby at the weekend as Glenn Roeder's men defeated Ipswich 2-0 at Carrow Road.
That was Bertrand's 18th league game of the season out of a possible 21.
Finally in the second tier, Jimmy Smith, a former reserve team captain at Stamford Bridge, is with Sheffield Wednesday, who are on a four-match unbeaten run that included a 1-0 win over our west London neighbours QPR at the weekend.
In total the 21-year-old has made 11 appearances for the Owls, but has not featured since late November.
In League One, Shaun Cummings is a part of the MK Dons side that is challenging for promotion under Roberto Di Matteo, manager of the month for November.
Cummings has now made 16 league appearances and after returning from suspension helped the side to three straight victories before last weekend's home defeat to Scunthorpe. The versatile 19-year-old has been mainly deployed in a right-back role.
Finally, Lee Sawyer returned to Stamford Bridge in November after a successful spell with Southend United, who we face in the FA Cup third round on January 3.
In total, 19-year-old Lee made 13 appearances at Roots Hall, scoring three goals, and returned to the Chelsea reserve line-up for the 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on 24 November.
Article:Chelseafc.com
