Who’d be in your Chelsea XI v Newcastle United?

We’ve been hit with some bad news today as John Terry is likely to miss out when Chelsea play against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge tomorrow evening due to a neck injury, which should see David Luiz return to the starting line-up after he sat out during the 4-2 victory over Reading in midweek.

Former Werder Bremen winger Marko Marin is also out with the same thigh injury that prevented him from taking part this season so far, but Roberto Di Matteo has a full compliment to choose from otherwise.

Looking at the opposition, Fabricio Coloccini and Demba Ba are both sidelined with injury, whilst the likes of Cheick Tiote and Shola Ameobi are doubtful.

The team I’d like to see play tomorrow:

P. Cech

B. Ivanovic – G. Cahill – D. Luiz – A. Cole

J. Mikel – F. Lampard (c)

Ramires – E. Hazard – R. Bertrand

F. Torres

In defence, Luiz steps in for Terry but will remain unchanged otherwise. Both Ashley Cole and Branislav Ivanovic haven’t had the best of starts as they’ve both been caught out a number of times this season, so they’ll have to step it up against Newcastle, although Ivanovic doesn’t seem to have any trouble finding the net these days and he’s even doing it during open play.

Apart from his penalty, Lampard had a really quiet game against Reading in the week and faded. However, I expect to see him captaining the side tomorrow evening and there’s no-one threatening his place just yet but Oscar may do soon as he could be a long term prospect in that position. Juan Mata is still without rest and I would have preferred he sat out against Wigan to be fresher for this game, but so be it. Ryan Bertand and Ramires should be more adept to helping out our fullbacks that have struggled a little in the early stages of the season.

Fernando Torres’ confidence may have received a boost after he grabbed a goal from an offside position against Reading on Wednesday night. He had one of the poorest games he’s had in a while, ironically enough, as he never seems to score on the occasions he plays well. He hasn’t much competition for his place at the moment, especially as Daniel Sturridge not been properly tried in a centre forward role, but will this change before the close of the transfer window?

Who’d be in your Chelsea XI v Newcastle United? – Have your say in the comments section below