Stoke City v Chelsea: Chelsea changes? - YOU pick the Chelsea starting eleven!
Chelsea travel to the Britannia Stadium tomorrow afternoon to take on Stoke City and ex-Chelsea man Mark Hughes as we look to protect Jos...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2013/12/stoke-city-v-chelsea-chelsea-changes.html
Chelsea travel to the Britannia Stadium tomorrow afternoon to take on Stoke City and ex-Chelsea man Mark Hughes as we look to protect Jose Mourinho's unbeaten December record! Who do YOU think should start for Chelsea?
I fully expected Jose Mourinho to make some changes to his side against Sunderland from the Southampton game last week and had stated that I thought the likes of De Bruyne, Mikel and Demba Ba would come in and start in place of Essien, Oscar and Fernando Torres!
I was totally wrong as Willian came in for Oscar and Frank Lampard came in for Essien.
So being honest, ahead of another important game, it really is anyone's guess as to the side Mourinho will pick for this one!
What do we know about Stoke? They are a physical side and like to utilise their height advantages in attacking set pieces. For me, the aren't the most mobile of teams so for me, it's important that we have tall players in the side to deal with the defensive situations we will find ourselves in but at the same time, have plenty of pace and technical ability in attacking areas.
Now being honest, I would take Branislav Ivanovic out of the side at right back and move Cesar Azpilicueta out wide right but as I said Stoke will look to use their height advantage so it's best we keep Ivanovic in there. As a result, I cannot see any changes to the back five (including Petr Cech).
I would now bring Mikel into the team to play next to Ramires in this game and purely because of his height in addition to the defensive qualities he has.
As I said earlier, I do not believe that Stoke are the most mobile of teams and I would really, really like to see the attacking three start tomorrow as Hazard, Mata and De Bruyne. However, I can see Andre Schurrle being given the nod ahead of KDB and Willian tomorrow.
Up top, I would expect Fernando Torres to start again.
So, my Chelsea eleven for tomorrow would be:
Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry(c), Azpilicueta, Mikel, Ramires, De Bruyne, Mata, Hazard and Torres.
What do you think ?
Carefree & KTBFFH!