27 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

As shown against Arsenal, City look absolutely shocking at the back. As long as our defense can keep tight Hazard should have a field day up the other end of the pitch. Hopefully Diego pulls his finger out for this one too.

I'd actually be reluctant to play Costa tbh. He offered absolutely nothing at the weekend and I don't think we can afford passengers with City.

Trouble is we don't have another striker because Michy isn't trusted and has played very little football. Only other option is use Hazard up top and Pedro and Willian either side of him.

It's a tough call though because Willian was terrible at the weekend too when he came on.

Willian terrible on the weekend ??? Jesus i must have been watching a different match because i saw him beat is man time again put balls in only to have no one on the end of them

17 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Willian terrible on the weekend ??? Jesus i must have been watching a different match because i saw him beat is man time again put balls in only to have no one on the end of them

He constantly passed it sideways for the majority of attacks, he was fresh and bar a few times he failed to run at his man choosing to pass it back or across. A couple of crosses doesn't change he looked hesitant to run at them.

I expect a lot more from him coming into a game against a tiring Palace side.

31 minutes ago, Chelsbear said:

I'd actually be reluctant to play Costa tbh. He offered absolutely nothing at the weekend and I don't think we can afford passengers with City.

Trouble is we don't have another striker because Michy isn't trusted and has played very little football. Only other option is use Hazard up top and Pedro and Willian either side of him.

It's a tough call though because Willian was terrible at the weekend too when he came on.

I thought about Hazard up top as its worked well earlier in the season. My only hope is that if Costa is up for it his physicality would absolutely murder Stones/Otamendi. That said, like you mentioned, Costa has been beyond bad to the point where he's annoying me now. 

24 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Willian terrible on the weekend ??? Jesus i must have been watching a different match because i saw him beat is man time again put balls in only to have no one on the end of them

imo Willian slows the play down too much. He likes to bring the ball to a complete stop, wait for the defender to come in then beat him with his pace. Problem with this is against Palace, slowing down lets all 10 men get back behind the balling. 

City will be up for this like no other, sometimes it's not ideal to fight fire with fire.  I'll back us to win this, because it matters and because we are the better team with the better manager.

Hope we win but I have to admit losing to Palace has made me more nervous.

40 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

Hope we win but I have to admit losing to Palace has made me more nervous.

The result aside, the performance was very good, if we perform like that for every remaining game we should be fine.

This may sound daft but i think citeh are the perfect team to play when you want your players to turn up. You know you will get space to attack them because they play so many minutes up the pitch, and with Matic and Kante we have two ball winners who are so dangerous to citeh, they are our turnover players, and with the pace e have in front of them waiting to Counter attack is shockingly good. Just take a look at the goal against West ham from their own free kick, its a typical Chelsea goal, Kante wins the ball deep in our half, 8 seconds later Pedro and Hazard dance up the pitch to score. Sublime football, the kind of football Citeh fear most.

 

I have woundered if there is only about 13 or 14 players Conte truly trusts in the squad. Chelsea haven't really suffered any bad injuries this season but Moses misses a game and Chelsea have to play Pedro at Wingback. For me that was the least obvious choice with very good defender's in Terry, Ake and Zouma and you move Dave. Or play a back 4. 

He biggest thing with Pedro is we missed his goalscoring.

The subs seem very obvious too with Fab or Matic come on if one was benched. Zouma normally comes on. Chalaboah got 2mins earlier in the season. Then either Pedro or Willian if one is benched.

16 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

I have woundered if there is only about 13 or 14 players Conte truly trusts in the squad. Chelsea haven't really suffered any bad injuries this season but Moses misses a game and Chelsea have to play Pedro at Wingback. For me that was the least obvious choice with very good defender's in Terry, Ake and Zouma and you move Dave. Or play a back 4. 

He biggest thing with Pedro is we missed his goalscoring.

The subs seem very obvious too with Fab or Matic come on if one was benched. Zouma normally comes on. Chalaboah got 2mins earlier in the season. Then either Pedro or Willian if one is benched.

I think he's just being loyal to the XI that dug him out of the hole after the emirates, only tweaking when he was forced to, can't blame him, that run we went on we looked unbeatable for most of it.

I missed yesterday's game but did City really play Navas at RB or was it a back 3? I reckon Matic will play because I'm sure Toure will start, plus City are useless at defending set pieces. 

Im confident we'll score, however, its at the other end that has me seriously worried, our defence cant buy a clean sheet at the moment.

As a lot of pundits have said, the result against Palace may resemble that of a team who are about to bottle it but the performance definitely didn't. For 90 seconds we were very sloppy and those seconds cost us the game, but for the rest of the match I thought we were reasonably good and I cant fault the team, they gave their best. 

I may be wrong but I think the fact we were 10 points clear and winning so early on in the game made us relax a little; I'm hoping Conte is stamping that out in training and the players put their heads down in the final few hurdles 

Yes..this game is crucial...the more I look at the remaining fixtures the more concerned I get.  Spuds will have the bit between their teeth especially looking at their run in and the only two games they will likely drop points might be Palace and West Ham away....I think they will beat both Arsenal and Utd at the Lane.

7 points clear and people think spurs will catch us [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

24 minutes ago, Brutos said:

7 points clear and people think spurs will catch us

If it was 4 by wed night night not be so funny, our confidence would be shattered and their tails up, not quite laughing off territory yet 

I said a while back all it takes is back to back losses and its wide open. Every game is a big one when your chasing the title but i think Wednesdays has to be the biggest so far and possibly the decider 

Everytime our backs have been against the wall the players have stepped up the manager has stepped up

50 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Everytime our backs have been against the wall the players have stepped up the manager has stepped up

fingers crossed it continues !!

i have faith as  long as we dont start pedro at wingback we shd fine. If moses is healthy we shd go with the untouchables and matic / willian for cesc/pedro. if Moses is injured we should switch formations. There is no law that says we must start with 343. Come on Conte.... I am expecting one of those magical nights at the bridge.. Cant wait

If Moses is still out, it has to be Azpi at WB and another CD comes in, possibly Zouma. We need Pedro to be at the other end scoring goals, not defending against Sane or Silva. There will be space to exploit and gaps in between, we need to play our best scoring players where it matters.

I think this game will make or break our campaign. If and big f* if we drop this game, even the away trip to Bourmenouth on Saturday will look daunting.

Tibo

GC DL Ake

Azpi Matic Kante Alonso

Willian Hazard Pedro

 

if moses is not fit, Azpi to play RWB. Pedro had no clue what so ever about what to do.

Costa is simply redundant these days, so might as well play a front 3 of Willian-hazard-pedro. 

 

3 - 0 to Chelsea, David Luiz with a perfect hat trick, all goals scored from 25 yards plus.

Spurs to lose to Swansea.

One Step Beyond plays.

Come on Chels! 

We will do it believe in Antonio and the players maybe thats the wake-up they needed

2 minutes ago, Brutos said:

We will do it believe in Antonio and the players maybe thats the wake-up they needed

I really PRAY so . its a thin line between wake up call and BLIP. Even a draw will be considered a blip by the media with 5 points dropped in 2 matchdays. A win is very important and hopefully spurs drop points because i dont think my heart and my pride can take it if spurs beat us to the title

Moses out for the match apparently. Azpi to RWB, Ake in at LCB and Cahill shifted across for my liking.