Hey a 3PM kick off for a change, seems to have been a while since the last one, think it was Fulham.

 

As usual we need a win if we want to remain in the title race. By the time this one is played Liverpool will likely be 1 point behind us on level games, Man City 3 points behind us with 2 games in hand and Arsenal...well I am not sure how they will do, they should beat Swansea at home really and be 4 points behind us, level on games.

 

Still no Ramires, 2 more games in England out for him. No Etoó, though Jose may not have picked him anyways. We know that means Torres up top. Hopefully the rest of the side will line up as:

 

Cech

Brana---Cahill---JT---Azpi

-----Luiz---Matic

Schurrle----Oscar---Hazard

---------Torres

 

If we have Willian in there rather than Schurrle our only likely goal threat is Hazard on one of the lads from the back on a set piece imo.

 

Last London derby of the season, come on Chelsea lets prove ourselves Kings of London again!

Liverpool play 2 games in 4 days, so hopefully some fatigue within them come Saturday. Obviously, every game is a must win for us from here on in. It's getting a bit frustrating to see us play so well against these top sides, then go and get a less than desirable result against a mid-low table team. I hope we turn that on it's head come Saturday. 

Should crush them.

 

"Should".

Willian is a far better player against top sides when we won't have the majority of possession and shots.  His energy in that setting is immense.  But against inferior competition, his passing and final product is largely suspect.  Jose HAS TO play Schurrle over Willian.  I will be so disappointed if not.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it and all that schizz... but Lampard for Luiz would be understandable because of the latter's match fitness. We need Eto'o really but if he's not 100% then go with Torres. Rest of the team picks itself at the moment IMO.

Ba; Schurrle Hazard Salah; Luiz, Matic; Cole + Azpi as well as Terry/Cahill  

Edited March 23, 201412 yr by MANoWAR

I'd like to see Schurrle start this one with Salah making another appearance in the second half. 

Palace have scored a pathetic 19 goals in the league this season but they have one of the tightest defences of all the teams down the bottom, conceding just 39. They seem to favour 1 goal wins or losses and this will be a tough game for us. They are fighting for survival .

 

I hope we stick with the team and formation that battered the Woolwich Wanderers with perhaps one exception if Eto'o is out. Put Ba up front.

This is going to be a really tough game, I honestly consider this a tougher game than the Arsenal one (and i'm not just saying that because we thumped them), they have Pulis and are going to park the largest bus London has ever seen in front of their goal.

Agree with the post above. This game concerns me more than arsenal at home. There fans will be right up for it and pulis teams are always difficuilt to break down. Plus the fact they are battling relegation adds a bit more incentive for them. 

 

Going to be a tough tough game and my team would be the  same one that started saturday but if eto is out torres to come in.

Hey a 3PM kick off for a change, seems to have been a while since the last one, think it was Fulham.

 

As usual we need a win if we want to remain in the title race. By the time this one is played Liverpool will likely be 1 point behind us on level games, Man City 3 points behind us with 2 games in hand and Arsenal...well I am not sure how they will do, they should beat Swansea at home really and be 4 points behind us, level on games.

 

Still no Ramires, 2 more games in England out for him. No Etoó, though Jose may not have picked him anyways. We know that means Torres up top. Hopefully the rest of the side will line up as:

 

Cech

Brana---Cahill---JT---Azpi

-----Luiz---Matic

Schurrle----Oscar---Hazard

---------Torres

 

If we have Willian in there rather than Schurrle our only likely goal threat is Hazard on one of the lads from the back on a set piece imo.

 

Last London derby of the season, come on Chelsea lets prove ourselves Kings of London again!

great post, my thoughts precisely, the only possiblity is maybe starting Lampard again for goal scoring potential.

Edited March 24, 201412 yr by ozboy

-----------Cech

 

Brana---Cahill---JT---Azpi

 

---------Luiz---Matic

 

Schurrle---Willian----Hazard

 

----------Eto'o / Ba

Eto'o is out for 2 weeks so I'd say same again with the back 4 and middle 2 then a frount 4 of

 

 

Salah/Willian......Oscar.......Hazard

 

..........................Schurrle..............

Will be a tough game as Palace is a tough place to travel to and they will treat this like a final so their team will be 100% up for this.

We need to be the same.

-----------Cech

Ivan---Cahill---JT---Azpi

---------Luiz---Matic-------

Schurrle---Oscar----Hazard

---------Torres (if Eto'o is out)-----------

Edited March 24, 201412 yr by RFC_CFC

I would go with the same team that started against Arsenal.

 

If Eto'o isn't fit then start with Torres who still played well enough to help create a couple of goals himself after replacing Eto'o.

 

It Eto'o doesn't start though we need to be looking to get Schurrle on the ball around the penalty area because his finishing is looking pretty good of late. 

As we'll probably be doing most of the attacking, Schurrle should keep his place ahead of Willian, for his superior end product. Is Luiz fully fit? I'd put Lampard in too, again for his greater goal threat. Personally I'd have Ba up front (assuming Eto'o is out) but it'll probably be Torres.

I'd go for the same team as against Arsenal, but Torres in for Eto

A classic potential banana skin for us....As other posters have said, this sort of game makes me more nervous than facing Arsenal...I would start with Paul Mckenna in the dressing room to drum into our players the importance of turning up...

Here's me telling everyone a work that we have Swansea.

Lamps for Luiz due to the lack of match fitness, otherwise team to remain the same.

A classic potential banana skin for us....As other posters have said, this sort of game makes me more nervous than facing Arsenal...I would start with Paul Mckenna in the dressing room to drum into our players the importance of turning up...

West Ham, Stoke, West Brom (twice), Newcastle, Villa etc a mixture of sides we should be beating but we either could not finish against or played cr*p against and dropped vital points.

 

If our lads want a chance of a PL winners medal then they need to treat Palace, Stoke, Swansea, Newcastle, Norwich and Cardiff with the same respect that they have given to City, Liverpool, Arsenal et al. Then we have a chance at the title.

 

If not then Jose has some mentality training needed. 

Torres will be useless here. We need Ba to hold up play and help give it to our midfielders when they make runs in. Salah in because he's a pacey winger kind of player that's important in breaking down tight defences. Schurrle to a lesser extent but he helps convert those chances. Hazard ofc is a given. Why does no-one trust Ba though? 

 

Luiz/Matic was a great combo and helped distribute the ball well. Want Azpi and Cole to provide some width

Edited March 24, 201412 yr by MANoWAR

Need Billy to do the speech for this one

Looks like Eto'o won't be fit... He's eyeing the PSG game as a comeback match. 

 

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11945/9230364/champions-league-chelsea-striker-samuel-etoo-hopes-to-be-fit-for-psg-clash?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Torres will be useless here. We need Ba to hold up play and help give it to our midfielders when they make runs in. Salah in because he's a pacey winger kind of player that's important in breaking down tight defences. Schurrle to a lesser extent but he helps convert those chances. Hazard ofc is a given. Why does no-one trust Ba though?

 

Luiz/Matic was a great combo and helped distribute the ball well. Want Azpi and Cole to provide some width

 

 

No idea. He only has one less Premier League goal than Torres and Ba has hardly kicked a ball in the EPL all season. As a centre-forward, doing the things that a centre-forward is supposed to do, Ba is the better option.

 

But it will be Torres who gets selected. No doubt.

No idea. He only has one less Premier League goal than Torres and Ba has hardly kicked a ball in the EPL all season. As a centre-forward, doing the things that a centre-forward is supposed to do, Ba is the better option.

 

But it will be Torres who gets selected. No doubt.

 

Those two goals against Spurs when they completed folded skew the goals scored stat a little.

 

With the exception of that sub appearance Ba's been pretty woeful this season, 9 times out of 10 when the ball is anywhere near him he is ending up on the deck admiring the groundsman's handy work.

 

It's frustrating because he's clearly a fairly clinical finisher on his day but when not scoring he offers little to nothing to the team.