If there was a Venn diagram to describe Luiz Felipe Scolari, it would involve Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger. The Brazilian coach has formed a side which encompasses parts of the ethoses of both the ex-Chelsea coach and the Arsenal manager. There were doubts of the manager’s credentials in club football, having never managed in Europe. Apparently winning a World Cup with a Brazil side that many have called the worst ever to do so is not enough.

The signing of Deco has made a world of difference to the style of Chelsea’s play. Using Mikel more prominently as a holding midfielder has allowed the dynamic Jose Bosingwa to provide dynamism and power down the right flank, much like Sergio Ramos does for Real Madrid. On the other flank, Ashley Cole has benefited to this more attacking style, with Mourinho scarcely allowing his full-backs to cross the halfway line. The most frightening aspect of this Chelsea side is that it has been ravaged by injury, yet has churned out impressive result after impressive result. They have been shorn of a plethora of players this season, whose value probably could pay for Jonathan Ross’ salary 50 times over.

Yet, if there is one club, which cannot complain of an injury crisis, it is Chelsea. When Carvalho and Terry were injured, Branislav Ivanovic came out of the wilderness, signed for £9m in January by Avram Grant. The Serbian looked very assured when stepping in. AC Milan looked to sign Nemanja Vidic’s international partner on loan. When Chelsea has a player of that calibre as a reserve, things can’t look down. They still have Ballack to come back as well. And despite all of these niggling issues (they can’t exactly be called problems, can they? Look at the squad depth and money.)

The statistics show that ‘Big Phil’, as he was dubbed by the British media can do no wrong. 27 goals scored and only 4 conceded. Surprisingly, 14 of these were scored on their travels and only 1 goal was conceded. This remarkable away record should continue against Blackburn. With a four year unbeaten home run off their minds, losing to a stubborn Liverpool and a deflected Xabi Alonso goal, perhaps subconsciously the Stamford Bridge outfit may benefit. In previous years, they may have been more cautious to protect their point when drawing, rather than advance and go for the victory. Yet, now the players may be more inclined to take risks, with the weight of the record gone.

The side have surpassed Arsenal in terms of possession football. Lampard (756 passes and 86% success rate) and Mikel (739 passes and an astounding 91% success rate) typify the new Chelsea philosophy. They have made 5452 passes in their league games so far. That is a full 555 passes more than Arsenal. Scolari is forming a model of efficiency, which so far looks to be a favourite for all four trophies in England. Yet, after the 3-1 defeat against Roma, which could have been much worse, we have seen the signs of an unfocussed Chelsea. How Panucci stole in to tap home, between John Terry and Alex is a rare occasion.

Mirko Vucinic’s thunderbolt was not what Scolari’s side wished for. The spindly Montenegrin fired in from the edge of the box with virtually no backlift to give the Romans a 2-0 lead immediately after the break. More efforts came from both sides, but when Mikel lacked the nous to stay on his feet, Vucinic swept the ball past Cech at the near post. Their defeat was compounded by Deco receiving a second yellow card for taking a free kick quickly. Quite shocking, when you consider Jurica Buljat was only awarded a yellow card for punching an opponent squarely in the face in a T-Com Croatian league game recent game between Hadjuk Split and Varteks Varazdin. And it wasn’t a little slap either.

So how would Scolari react to a poor team’s performance? The degree of rigour and discipline he brought to sides such as Gremio, gave him the nickname ‘Sargentao’ (Big Sergeant). Scolari has always had a volatile side, referring to the punch thrown at a Serbian player and the clip around the ear; he also gave former Real Madrid and current Santos Vanderlei Luxemburgo after a Brazilian cup semi-final. In Brazil, Scolari was famed for having a style considered Argentinean. He advocated a physical style, wanted players with courage and character and ordered his players to defend from the front. His philosophy was:

‘By playing ugly and winning, everything becomes beautiful’.

He followed this ethos of a physical style himself, bye bundling over a linesman, in a friendly against Roma, his first match in charge of Gremio. Apparently, the linesman had made one to many wrong offside decisions for the liking of Scolari. Another time, he was sent off for invading the pitch with the club’s vice president Cacalo. The irony is that it was Cacalo, who warned Scolari to tone down his actions, after the Roma game. The wealth of riches, he has to his disposal at Chelsea, are nothing like the resources that were available to him at Gremio. Scolari bought on the cheap and by doing so, assembled one of the toughest defences ever seen in Brazil. Paraguayans Arce and Rivarola were central to this plan.

When the need for a Churchillian speech arises, Scolari is one to step up to the challenge. Rest assured, Chelsea, motivation should not be an issue. Days before the Copa Libertadores final against Colombia’s Atletico Nacional in 1995, Scolari claimed:

‘We’re going into war. It’s not just football, we’re fighting against referees, directors, fans, and they’re all against us. We’re not just playing against eleven players, but the whole of South America’

We haven’t seen much of this in England so far, but if Scolari is ever aggravated, expect a pile of FA misconduct charges to land at the foot of his door. The speech worked with Scolari’s side winning 3-1 in the first leg. The second leg really was war, with nine yellows and one red card handed out by the referee. It ended in a 1-1 draw and 65,000 fans in the Olimpico Monumental stadium celebrated wildly. This high in the history of Gremio occurred only through a volatile Scolari. After a 4-1 defeat at Portuguesa, the Brazilian coach threatened to resign, claiming:

‘I can’t lose this way. What a disgrace! I’m going back to Porto Alegro by bus!’

One imagines Scolari didn’t take the same action from Rome. Yet, the Chelsea players must have been warned, another defeat in the same manner and the Hyde in Scolari could out.