Chelsea can put some pressure on the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal by claiming all three points against Hull City on Saturday and will go top with a win as their rivals do not play until Sunday and Monday, respectively.
Neither Branislav Ivanovic (knee) nor Frank Lampard (muscle injury) will be available to Jose Mourinho but the Blues enjoy a clean bill of health otherwise.
Hull boss Steve Bruce has a number of concerns as a sickness bug has affected no less than nine of his players, whilst Paul McShane is suffering with an ankle injury and is set to be out for the next four weeks.
Predicted Chelsea XI:
P. Cech
C. Azpilicueta – G. Cahill – J. Terry (c) – A. Cole
Ramires – J. Mikel
Oscar – E. Hazard – Willian
F. Torres
With Ivanovic out it’s another chance for Azpilicueta to play in his preferred right-back position and in my opinion he’s by far the best option we have in that position whilst out-of-favour Ashley Cole has put in some decent displays of late.
Gary Cahill is often preferred to David Luiz alongside John Terry and although I would probably prefer the Brazilian usually, Cahill has been in good form lately and I don’t see why Mourinho will change that.
I think John Obi Mikel and Ramires will pair up in central midfield for this one and believe they represent the most stable pairing and provide a solid base behind our strongest area by far – attacking midfield.
All the headlines have been about Juan Mata and whether or not he should be in the team or if he will move off but Eden Hazard is undoubtedly the main man in this season’s Chelsea side and will be joined by the in-form Willian and Oscar, who looks back in form following a slow couple of months.
Fernando Torres is the best of a bad bunch to spearhead the Chelsea attack.
