Chelsea’s home form has left a lot to be desired since Rafael Benitez took up the post as interim manager but they must turn it around against Stamford Bridge on Sunday and the Spaniard may call on captain John Terry to give the Blues the boost and leadership they desperately need.
John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses, on international duty, are unavailable whilst Oriol Romeu remains the only injury concern.
Arsenal’s defender Laurent Koscielny returns following a one-match suspension, but Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky are sidelined with calf injuries and Gervinho is at the African Cup on Nations.
Who’d be in your Chelsea XI for tomorrow’s game?
P. Cech
C. Azpilicueta – D. Luiz – J. Terry (c) – A. Cole
Ramires – Lampard
Oscar – J. Mata – E. Hazard
Ba
Hopefully Terry’s return will have the desired effect for Chelsea as we need to turn our home form around and maintain the gap on the sides that our chasing us.
Which side would you pick?
Playing Oscar, Mata and Hazard all together does not work and hasn’t worked since very early on this season. My XI would be:
Cech;
Ivanovic,Cahill,Terry(c),Cole;
Luiz,Lampard;
Hazard,Mata,Marin;
Ba
Subs: Turnbull,Azpilicueta,Ake,Ramires,Oscar,Bertrand,Torres
I agree with your first eleven except marin, so I’d prefer Ramires in place of marin.
Lampard shouldn’t play, he’s not fully fit I think. Marin mata hazard will do the magic
I would go with this team:
Cech
Ivanovic – Cahill – Terry – Cole
Luiz – Ramires
Oscar – Mata – Eden
Ba
Frank needs to sit this one out need legs in the middle of the park, showed signs of fatigue against the Saints shouldn’t be playing every match at his age needs to be used sparingly.
If Benitez goes with Mata, Eden and Oscar has to allow them to interchange(like under Robbie) especially Oscar don’t limit him to the RW. Needs the freedom to express himself on the pitch.
It’s certainly not Ideal starting Terry against Arsenal with lack of match fitness but I feel we have no choice. Need his leadership and organisation on the pitch. Lampard/Cech doesn’t cut It for me as captains.
Can see Benitez going with this team:
Cech
Azpi – Ivanovic – Terry – Cole
Luiz – Lampard Eden – Mata – Ramires(to nullify Walcott) Torres
* Can see Benitez going with this team:
Cech
Azpi – Ivanovic – Terry – Cole
Luiz – Lampard
Eden – Mata – Rami/Bert(to nullify Walcott) Torres
Cole has struggled big time over the years against Theo, hope he gets the better of him this time.
Theo is not playing bro
Did play,scored and caused Cole problems as usual.
Ivanovic in my team because of his aerial threat, Arsenal tend to struggle from set pieces/deadball situations.
You can understand how the die-hard Chelsea fans feel at this point in time so its really important that the players give it 200%. The fans are not stupid. When they see the team giving it their all, the fans will really get behind the players. Fact. They will forget about booing Rafa and Torres. Fact. At the end of the day – its the players who determine the outcome of the match. I would play a different formation to get the early goal/s with
Cech,
Azpi – Cahill – Ivanovic – Cole
Luiz
Oscar, Mata, Haz
Ba + Torres
If Torres is not giving his all in the first half then I would sub Lamps for him at H/T and move Hz up front with Ba and if we are in the lead then I would sub Terry for Oscar and Marin for Mata and rest these guys for Swansea. But its important that any Subbing is done around the 65 min mark.
Its absolutely vital that we keep the concentration in the first 20 mins and the last 20 mins – BUT especially in the last 10 mins as we seem to get complacent near the end of the match.
JT LUIZ
IVANOVIC COLE
HAZZARD MATA RAMI
TORRES BA
Cech
Iva – cahill – Terry – cole
Luiz – Ramires
Eden – Mata – Ryan
Ba
Cech
Ivan-Cahill-Terry-Cole
Ramires
Hazard-Mata-Bertrand
Ba+Torres
I would go with a 4 4 2…
Cech
Ivan-Cahill-Terry-Cole
Hazard Mata Ramires Bertrand
Ba+Torres…
I tink 4 4 2 will be a better formation pairin torres and ba upfront.
Azpi luiz terry cole
Ramires
Mata oscar hazard
Ba. Torres