Like it or not, agree with it or not, this is the game the media will cling to as if we lose they will claim we have been flat track bullies but if we win they will maybe acknowledge out credentials as title favourites.

Kalou and Benayoun will be missing although I think this will only make a difference to the bench rather than the starting 11. My guess is we will see a back four of Ashley Cole, JT, Alex and Ivanovic as I think Paulo has been struggling at right back.

thats the back four have no doubt

If Carlo intended to play Fereira in this match he certainly would have rested him against Newcastle so, yeah, that will be the back four.

Lapmard probably can't start right? So we will see Ramires, Mikel and Essien with Anelka, Malouda and Drogba up front.

Subs bench will also be important.

Our best starting 11 assuming that Lamps is not fit to start is clearly;

cech

ivan alex terry cole

mikel

essien ramires malouda

anelka drogba

subs: Here is where we will miss kalou badly. lampard, kakuta (prefer to sturridge),paulo,turnbull

We are already at the point where the bench is starting to look thin. This is where Neymar would have helped.

This is a big game because they did the double on us last season, and because we played dumb against them at the bridge.

I've heard that Man City only have 3 defenders fit for the match so that should help tremendously. I think we can edge a nervy victory, especially since we rested many players (but then again, so did City). This game might just be about how well our front 3 will be able to handle their back 4, and if Drogba decides to wear his finishing boots, which he seems to have forgotten at home the past couple of games. Although if Malouda nets our winner with Drogba assisting (which would be a pattern as of late) I'd have absolutely no problem whatsoever.

Being reported Lamps might miss the next 3 clashes.....

City will play 3 defensive midfielders and try to catch us on the break, same approach as last time at the Bridge. I'm confident about this one, they are far from settled as a team, even without injuries. This time we have a real GK, a fit Essien who will proect us from getting hit on the break, and we are in good form despite the glitch on Wendesday.

If Frank is out that'll be a huge blow. But if he is I'd say the first 11 picks itself

....................Cech

Ivan..........Terry...Alex......Cole

....................Mikel

.........Essien............Ramires

...Anelka...........................Malouda

................Drogba

Like the look of that left side. However, the bench will be tough

Turnbull

Bruma

PVA

Zhirkov

Sturridge

Kakuta

McEchran

That's a pretty Young bench

Unless Richards makes a miraculous recovery, it looks like they wont have a recognized left back. Anelka should profit

If Frank is out that'll be a huge blow. But if he is I'd say the first 11 picks itself

....................Cech

Ivan..........Terry...Alex......Cole

....................Mikel

.........Essien............Ramires

...Anelka...........................Malouda

................Drogba

Like the look of that left side. However, the bench will be tough

Turnbull

Bruma

PVA

Zhirkov

Sturridge

Kakuta

McEchran

That's a pretty Young bench

Personally, I'd rather have Ferreira on the bench than Van Aanholt, and that is nothing to do with how well they played against Newcastle. It's two things, one, if Ivan gets injured who would play right back, so having two players able to play left back on the bench would be redundant. Two, in this kind of game, I'd trust Ferreira more defensively... only just, mind you, only just.

Other than that, those are our options, although thinking on it Bossingwa did get a run out for the reserves, so he might be fit enough for a place on the bench as a better option than Ferreira.

Getting a bit worried about Lampard. First he would be back after the break, then he was going to rest the first game just in case. After that he went missing for another game and so on and so forth. Now, missing the next three games!?

Lampard to me has always been someone who never gets injured and if he does, he's back in no time.

So I really can't believe he's missing all these games.

Back to the game...

I'm always nervous when he play ManC because they seem to do well against us. They might not be title contenders yet, but they can still make life difficult for us. And even if they do miss some players I can't help but feeling nervous. My old pessimistic self is poking out and are afraid that we'll lose this one.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see which players will start the game.

I hope to see Ivan as RB and then Alex with JT in the middle (too slow perhaps?) and Cole as LB.

Midfield will consist of Mikel and Essien for sure, but who will join them - Ramires or Yossi?

The first would make our midfield a strong and hard working one, but with Yossi we would get a bit more creativity. And I guess Yossi is the most natural backup for Lampard.

Drogba will be playing up front, flanked by Anelka and Malouda.

Subs: Hilario (or is he injured?), Ferreira, Bosingwa?, Bruma, Yossi/Ramires, Kakuta, McEachren, Kalou, Sturridge.

A win here would be brilliant. Many so-called "experts" have talked alot about us having an easy start of the season. Beating City away would really prove that we can beat even tougher opposition.

And also a win would put a dent in Citys ambition to win the league.

It appears that both yossi and kalou will not be available . There is no news so far on Kakuta ..

The first 11 is good for us , but the options on the bench will leave us slightly worried , only if someone on the starting 11 gets injured . Because this is the best 11 and the most important thing is our players are durable for the entire 90 mins .. Players over 30 and durability is a brilliant thing to have .

If we are chasing the game or searching for a goal , we can probably leave both essien and mikel to hold and Josh can play just before them which would be a great thing for the lad because he will be protected but also he can start to boss the midfield . I m not worried about whether micah richards is fit or not . To me , he is actually a player with no brains . Malouda is going to give him a torrid time and Anelka must also be licking his lips at the prospect of going against Zabaleta ...

They will probably try to have yaya toure and kompany mark dider drogba .. It is going to be a great game . If we can avoid them hitting us at the break , i think we have a great chance . Essien and Mikel - the key !

Ramires Mikel Essien midfield would be perfect,they can all put in a defensive shift and win the midfield battle comfortably.Don't flame me for this but i think creatively/movement of Ramires/Essien/Mikel are a lot more dynamic than the midfield we had last season,they can pick out better passes and judging from the last few games they have excellent understanding.So i reckon we'll beat them this time around for that reason.

I hope Ancelotti has something extra up his sleeve though because knowing Mancini,he will know how to nullify Chelsea's movements.

I will personally die a bit inside if Ferreira somehow get's to start this one, I reckon we will see a back four of Ivan Alex Terry and Cole but you never know. Shame that benayoun and kalou are out injured but gives the youngsters a chance to step-up later in the game, how nice wouldn't it be to see Sturridge score against them?

Mikel, Ramires and Essien in the midfield with Anelka, Drogba and Malouda as the front 3, should be a cracker of a game and as an early kick-off we wont have to wait much longer for it to kick off! Come on Chelsea!

Essien, Mikel and Ramires in midfield could work really fine. But we have quite a problem if one of them gets injured, suspended or anything. No cover in midfield expect maybe McEachran. Let`s pray that every midfielder stays fit when Lampard is out or we may have to use McEachran from kick-off against Marseille og Arsenal.

Come on Chelsea!

We will show these lads why we are champions.

3-0

I wonder if maybe we could move Malouda slightly further back should one of our midfield trio get injured, but that'd probably be a terrible move considering how well he's doing playing further forward this season, also who would we play up front with Kalou out? Not sure I have any faith in Sturridge right now... maybe Zhirkov or even Josh could do a job in midfield if required, but hopefully it really, really won't come to that...

It's quite sad that with just two midfielders injured it seems to have really stretched our squad a worrying amount.

Edited September 24, 201015 yr by blizeH

We will be fine dot com

kakuta is out with a back problem

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/9023175.stm

How about that for luck 3 injuries in 1 game.

W T F ? !

Edited September 24, 201015 yr by djisi

I'm not surprised Kakuta has a back problem. He took a spectacular tumble in the match on Wednesday.

Frank's continued absence is a real worry, as is Bosingwa's. Ivanovic is having to cover two positions at once which isn't ideal.

I hope that Carlo has learnt from last season that we have to be careful about leaving too much space out wide for City to counter attack in to. If that means playing a bit tighter then so be it.

Hopefully the starting 11 will be able to do the business because the bench is looking a bit thin.

With frank out, losing yossi is a big blow. I'm not sure how well a mikel-Ramirez-essien midfield will do in terms of creating chances, but looks like we have no choice. Paulo mustn't start at right back as he will be such an obvious area for them to exploit.

We know we can score and we know their defense isn't the best, so we just need to weather the inevitable early pressure and cut out the back four cock ups.

Mancini and Jose were the only two coaches that really got on top of us last season.

We will have to be at our best. I am worried by the effort that Anelka obviously put in against Newcastle and expect him to be a bit flat.

There's a heck of a lot that can go wrong at the moment. It would only need essien to reinjure himself and we'd look very thin for a week or two.

Ramires isn't going to score the midfield goals that Frank scores. Very few if any midfielders would.

They will most likely play it tight and try and catch our slow defence on the break.

Still I expect the boys to be right up for this one, if a trifle nervous.

If we take an early lead, we must push on and put the game to bed because we haven't yet proved we can sit on a lead.

I hope Essien can keep Tevez quiet. Not that he's that brilliant a player, but he feeds on scraps, and there will plenty of those knowing our defence.

Since I highly doubt McEachren will start this game we will have to play Ramires, Mikel and Essien. That should be a nightmare for Citys offensive.

On the other hand, we lack some attacking ability and creativity in that midfield.

My hopes are that those three can contain the opponents so that both Ivan and Cole can go forward helping the front three. That should allow Malouda, Anelka and perhaps Drogba to drop down and help the midfield creating chances.

And we all know that Essien has a wicked shot so I hope he'll use that if he gets the chance.

On the other hand, maybe Carlo will use Malouda as midfielder and using Sturridge or Zhirkov as a winger. Not likely perhaps, but certainly an option. I personally would like to see Zhirkov in Maloudas position. We haven't seen much of that. It seems that when he actually get to play it's instead of Cole or else as a central midfielder - a position he really can't play at!

I don't agree that a midfield three of Ramires, Essien and Mikel will be too defensive. In recent weeks we have seen what many of us have been saying for a long time - that being that Essien is wasted in the holding midfield role and having Mikel play there is freeing Essien up to become far more of a driving force in the centre of the park, with more inclination to get into goal scoring positions. In addition Ramiries isn't predominalty a holding midfielder, as proven against Newcastle where he struggled due largely to Benayoun and Zhirkov offering nothing in front of him.