After seeing off Premier League leaders Manchester City on Monday night the Blues will travel to the DW Stadium to take on Wigan in tomorrow’s evening kick-off.
David Luiz will be available for selection as he has returned from his one match suspension, which makes Michael Essien the only absentee as he isn’t due to be back in action until mid-January.
The team I’d play tomorrow:
P. Cech
B. Ivanovic – D. Luiz – J. Terry – A. Cole
Ramires – O. Romeu – R. Meireles
D. Sturridge – D. Drogba – J. Mata
We ought to stick to our settled XI, in my opinion, despite the fact that the festive period is a busy one in football and many worry that fatigue may become an issue. But these lads are professional athletes, the conditions are the same for everyone else and they’ll likely take less training sessions to save on energy because of the congested fixture list in any case.
I think the team more or less picks itself and we can’t afford to take chances on this one even though we’ll have one eye on Thursday night’s game against Tottenham.
Frank Lampard may not know why he’s not starting regularly at the moment, but he’s probably the only one as Ramires, Oriol Romeu and Raul Meireles currently represent our best midfield unit, so I think he may have to get used to life on the bench for the time being.
Another player who has had to be content with life on the sidelines is Fernando Torres, who should get another chance when Didier Drogba leaves to play in the African Cup of Nations but will probably have to sit tight until then as he seeks to resurrect his form of old.
My starting line up would be Cech – Ivanovic- Luiz – Terry – Cole – Ramires – Mikel – Lampard – Sturridge – Torres – Malouda. So many players should be fully rested ahead of the Tottenham clash. Ramires should make the start against Wigan but should not be allowed 90 minutes; perhaps he could be substituted and Mata brought in later in the game for Malouda to draw back into midfield. It all depends on how the game is presented us by our Wigan counterparts. Goodluck Chelsea.
Cech
Ivanovic—Luiz—Terry—Cole
Ramires—–Romeu—–Merieles
Sturridge – Torres – Mata
CECH—IVANOVIC— LUIZ—TERRY—COLE—RAMIRES—ROMIO—MEIRILES—STURRIDGE—DROGBA—MATA
i will like AVB to come out with this line up P cech, JT, Luiz, Ivanovic, Cole,
Romeu, Ramires, Lampard, sturridge, Mata, Torres.
CECH IVANOVIC~DAVID.LUIZ~JOHN TERRY~ASHLEY COLE{defence line} REMIRES~ROMEU~MEREILES STURRIDGE~TORRES~MATA {this will give torres the chance to show drogba that he is the best,and for him to prove is wort}