Chelsea v Sunderland - YOU pick the Chelsea starting eleven!
Make no mistake, the game against Sunderland tomorrow is as big as any we have played this season. I am asking YOU the Chelsea fan readin...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2014/04/chelsea-v-sunderland-you-pick-chelsea.html
Make no mistake, the game against Sunderland tomorrow is as big as any we have played this season. I am asking YOU the Chelsea fan reading this to pick the Chelsea eleven to face Sunderland.
Now we have some things to consider before you reach your verdict. Branislav Ivanovic is suspended for the first leg against Atletico Madrid and as we know by now, Mohamed Salah and Nemanja Matic are both ineligible having already played for Basel and Benfica in the Champions League this season. All three WILL start tomorrow in my view.
As for Eden Hazard? It seems as though he will miss tomorrow and maybe the first leg in Madrid as I believe the club will have Anfield and the second leg earmarked for his return (fingers crossed).
Who else should start? We are waiting to hear the pre match press conference this morning but there should be no new injury problems affecting Jose's team selection.
Looking back at Swansea and it will be interesting to see how many changes Mourinho makes ahead of Atletico. As I stated here, the game wasn't the best but we still took an all important three points. The likes of Samuel Eto'o, David Luiz, Fernando Torres, Oscar and Frank Lampard were all dropped to the bench for our trip to Wales and I wonder, with a full weeks preparation, how many of them will remain on the bench for this one tomorrow?
In my view, Sunderland is just as big (if not bigger) that Madrid on Tuesday night. With Man City's slip up against Gus Poyet's side in midweek, we now have the title in our own hands by making sure we win every single one of our four games remaining.
Chelsea must send out a strong team for this one and for Madrid but for now we focus on tomorrow.
My view is that our back four remains the same in front of Petr Cech. As I said Matic will start in the holding role but your guess is as good as mine as to who plays alongside him. I would go with Frank Lampard first half and David Luiz second half and give Ramires a rest.
Our attacking three are pretty much limited with the injury to Hazard but I would also take the same stance with the number ten role as I have with the Lampard/Luiz combo in midfield. I would start Oscar there and replace him in the second half with Willian and play Schurrle and Salah either side.
Up front, I would start Samuel Eto'o and replace him with Fernando Torres second half so everyone gets a run out.
So just to recap, here is my team selection(s) for tomorrow:
1ST HALF: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry(c), Azpilicueta, Matic, Lampard, Salah, Oscar, Schurrle, Eto'o.
2ND HALF: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry(c), Azpilicueta, Matic, Luiz, Salah, Willian, Schurrle, Torres.
What do you people think?