stokerino

I can only pray that Colback going off makes their midfield weaker. But then, maybe Obertan will suddenly morph into a world-beater too.

Pedro seems to be out-defending our central midfield at the moment. No accuracy from Remy's header...

Aaand 1-0.

I think this fixture must just turn all footballing convention upside-down. For example, I just saw Fabregas have a convincing shot from distance.

Tiny little sparks around and about from Oscar, but yet to lead to anything of consequence. Got lucky that we didn't lose possession when Fabregas fell over there.

Elbow to the balls for Eden. :/

Of course, Newcastle fans cheered when Coloccini kicked Demba Ba's face in, so I'm not surprised they boo Remy. They seem to hate any player who's ever scored goals for them.

Man City v Crystal Palace Liverpool/Carlisle United v Bournemouth Man United v Middlesbrough Everton v Norwich City Southampton v Aston Villa Sheff Weds v Arsenal Hull City v Leicester City Stoke City v Chelsea Dull dull dull

Just starting now...

Yep, it'll be on Sky somewhere.

Djellybaby sighting!

Ramires, 1-0. :)

Am actually mildly surprised at the (defensive) strength of that line-up. Still no debut for Djollybadger!

We had one against Palace... We try to forget that match. :p

He is definitely eligible. But if realistically only one of he and Traore are going to get a chance to come off the bench, seems fair that Traore get a turn next.

Chelsea team tonight: Begovic; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Cahill ©, Baba Rahman; Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Remy. #CFC Love it!!!

Difficult to judge how the squad selection will be approached on what SHOULD BE the easiest of the six CL Group fixtures, but that almost increases the pressure given the surrounding circumstances... Under 'normal' circumstances, taking into account another big Premier League game next weekend, I would expect something like: Begovic, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Zouma, Ivanovic, Matic, RLC, Hazard, Willian, Traore, Falcao As to what will actually happen...Christ knows. >_>

^ The way the transfer market's going, the board will have to sanction a nine figure transfer budget just to sign a couple of semi-promising midfielders. ;) :p

Thing is, if he spelled out how rubbish the players have been in public then he'd be criticised for not keeping that stuff private. Whatever any manager says in post-match interviews needs to be taken in isolation from reality.

Inevitable.

I get the sense that this game is running away from us now...

Dodgy territory there for the backpass. But then since Howard had free reign to handle outside the box last season let's call it even, okay?

Mikel off. Presumably Fab will drop back deeper, unless Kenedy is going to be played anywhere on the pitch except for his natural position. ;)

Kenedy getting ready...for Fabregas, please.

We were much, much, much worse beforehand...