Does City play as well?

11 minutes ago, evissy said:

Does City play as well?

Of course everyone in the CL plays at the same time give or take a day they play shaktar today 

Edited September 26, 20178 yr by DonAntonio

They play Shakhtar at home, today, whereas we have to travel and play a day later. Bugger.

2 hours ago, Amputechture said:

They play Shakhtar at home, today, whereas we have to travel and play a day later. Bugger.

It would be less of an issue if we played them Sunday, you would think when you play a top team after the CL mid week they would at least put the game on a Sunday 

A draw is obviously a good result, but having seen the way Conte managed us so far, doubt he will pick up a team to play for the draw. Instead he will pick his strongest 11 to try to win the game, which would be huge. I reckon Hazard will make his first start, Cesc will be in for Willian or Pedro, and Luiz in for christesen. I recon we will win this 2:1, simply because We need to make a statement in the CL after a year of absence.

I reckon Hazard will come in from the bench again. I'd rather have him start at City on saturday than here as i think that is the bigger game at this point. 40-45 minutes here might be the perfect builup for him to start that one.

I would personally like a full strength side regardless of the weekend fixture, would like to see Zappacosta play though. 

A draw out there will be good enough

 

We could see something like this, maybe use Pedro and Hazard late on when those big AM defenders are knackered to try and grab a winner.

What are everyone's thoughts on Tiago? I really liked him for us, but was sold after only 1 season. Was highly regarding at Atleti and is now the assistant manager. I'll never forget the screamer he scored at old trafford from about 35 yards, just after we'd won the title.

City is more important than this game. League should come first, prioritise Hazard's fitness for that. 

We should be strong enough for this game with out having to play Eden. They will kick him all over the place if he plays.

cheerio Diego - thanks for the goals but apart from that you never really felt "Chelsea"

hope we spank Atletico tomorrow night to give Costa a good send off

We have all our key players ready and fit for this match, I'd say this game should get the best from us, a top-level game that deserves a top performance. We've to win this match to prove ourselves as a top club.

I expect this will be a cagey game. Athleticism are strong defensively and work hard. They will keep their shape. Despite Griezman we have more attacking firepower with Morata and hazard. They will try to exploit Alonso’s lack of pace. 

We will likely concede a lot of possession and maybe expose Philippe  Luis down our right. 

I see no reason why we can’t get a draw and we could score if hazard and morta hit it off. 

By far our best route to goal so far this season is Dave through to Alberto. That can happen again. 

Tbf nothing wrong with their attacking power either and they are at home. Griezmann, Carrasco, Saul and so on.

This is the biggest test for Chelsea in a long time.

8 hours ago, ozboy said:

By far our best route to goal so far this season is Dave through to Alberto. That can happen again. 

Slightly confused here, who's Alberto?

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Both teams have about equal firepower. They have Griezmann, Carrasco, Koke and a rigid system that enables fullbacks to bomb forward as well while keeping it tight at the back.

Two similar teams. I agree that it's very cagey

Atletico under Simeone's tenure have arguably been the best "pressers" in European football, at least top 3. We have struggled against sides who do it even remotely well. Spurs, Arsenal, Man United, Liverpool have all squeezed us from the front the last 14 months, and has caused us problems. I'm aware we won a fair few of theses encounters regardless, though I'd argue often due to individual moments of quality, which in turn changes the dynamic of an opponents game plan, rather than us coming to terms with such tactics. We don't hold possession well against top sides, haven't for years. If we think we can employ our tactic of rolling the ball to a defender, who's already penned in to a corner, and think it'll be easy to play out from there, we're on a hiding to nothing. We'll need all the players we have who are comfortable in possession, namely Christensen and Fabregas. As most have said, 352 with Cesc supported by Kante and Bak will be crucial if we're to get a meaningful foothold on the game. 

Morata is sure to be pelted with abuse from the off, being a Real boy, I hope it fires him up (even in his own demure way). Excited for the game, missed occasions such as these last season. 

My Team

              Courtois

      Dave   Luiz      Rudiger/Christenson

Moses  Kante  Fab   Baka    Alonso

                  Hazard 

                Morata

Game day  

Hard, hard game no doubt.  Really looking forward to it.

COYB. I don't know if I will catch the match today, I'm flying from the east coast US to the west coast for vacation. I might be able to strategically pop in somewhere for lunch that would have the match on tv. 

19 hours ago, coco said:

 

We could see something like this, maybe use Pedro and Hazard late on when those big AM defenders are knackered to try and grab a winner.

I would like to see us with something similar. Just one change

Hazard for Willian.

Match day ..... COME ON YOU BLUES !

Goooo Blues ! Hopefully one win tonight and one big game !!!

GAMEDAY!! COME ON CHELS!!!!!!

 
We could see something like this, maybe use Pedro and Hazard late on when those big AM defenders are knackered to try and grab a winner.

I don't like Luiz in the midfield but I will happily take it just for this match because I can't see us getting even a point.