Chelsea could have a full compliment to choose from tomorrow as first choice right-back Branislav Ivanovic has travelled to Lisbon and may return to the defence as the Blues take on Benfica in the Champions League quarter-final.
The Serbian defender picked up a knock during the 2-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Eithad Stadium and missed out on the weekend’s derby v Tottenham.
Tomorrow night’s match will be the third of seven that Chelsea will play in the space of 20 days and many have argued that the squad may be suffering fatigue, which could have been a factor during the lifeless 0-0 game against Spurs on Saturday.
The Squad:
Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Bertrand, Mikel, Romeu, Essien, Meireles, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Malouda, Drogba, Torres, Sturridge, Kalou, Turnbull.
The XI I’d pick:
P. Cech
B. Ivanovic – D. Luiz – J. Terry (c) – A. Cole
J. Mikel
Ramires —- F. Lampard
D. Sturridge – D. Drogba – J. Mata
Who’d be in your Chelsea XI v Benfica? – Have your say in the comments section below
p.cech, ivanovic, d.luiz, JT, cole, essien, lampard, ramires, mata, torres, drogba, subs: piazon bertrand turnbull sturridge cahill meireles
Spot on.
and lukaku he needs a shot
Because of the speed of play Benifica play we need to stick with younger players in the midfield and play a 4-1-3-2
My line up would be the follwoing, by putting Sturridge on one side on the wing and Ramirez on the other we would have fast wingers, and Torres and Drogba play both down the middle. With Mata right behind them they would have plenty of support.
I think neither of our strikers are scoring because they are not being supported. I think with this lineup they would have plenty of support From the 3 Mata Sturridge and Ramires.
P. Cech
B. Ivanovic – D. Luiz – J. Terry (c) – A. Cole
M. Essein
Ramires – J. Mata – D. Sturridge
D. Drogba – F. Torres
This is it!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could actually also put in Cahil in the center instead of Luiz and move Luiz on the side instead of Ivanovic, especially since he just came back from being injured.
Di matieo U????? shuld not mak use of drogba,mak use of torres only
Cech
Ivanovic Cahil Terry Bertrand
Luiz Essien
Ramires Mata Piazon
Torres
Btw, drogba needs to go he does Torres no good give lukaku the bench role. Bring in a left winger, gotze would to good. Mata sitting behind the foward, Torres, who if carrys on not scoring sell him and bring falcao and cavani. We also need a cdm and a right winger. I would like hazard or Robben on wing and Fellaini or M’Vila in cdm. Give me your thoughts?
I will like to see david luiz play as a defensive midfielder,cahill and terry to partner each other and leave asley cole on d bench.my line up p cech,b ivanovic, j terry and g cahill betrand d luiz play 4,mata lampard sturidge and drogba torres.
play torres torres drogba up front torres as a supporting striker. My formation wud b 4 3 1 2
cech
ivanovic luiz terry cole
ramires essien lampard
mata
torres drogba
I????’d like to see the team head into the game like dis, p. Cech
Ivan, luiz, terry,bertrand. Mikel, sturridge,lampard,ramires. Mata. Torres
Essien’s been sh!t recently.i’ll go 4 a 4-2-3-1.
Cech
Iva,Luiz,Terry,Cole
Mikel,Ramires
Sturridge,Mata,Torres
Drogba.
Lampard should relax, u could see d speed of Cahiil against totenham after Adebayo has beaten czech to tap home, he made a block in. Younger players need to be given roles no probably in this champions league but like in FA cup nd the liked. Mu line up goes thus;
Czech
Ivanovic cahill Terry cole
Luiz Essien
Kalou Mata sturridge
Torres