I can't see us winning this one and would be pleased to see Conte pull a rabbit out of the hat yet unlikely.

De Bruyne seems to be the danger man yet trying to man mark him would be near impossible with a back three as his movement is terrific.

I would like us to go 3-4-3 like last week yet with Giroud upfront. If we can get a goal up and if so go to a 3-5-2 to hold the lead no problem yet we need a goal first.

 

They don't need to win, but we do. A big factor at this time in the season.

However, I fear we're witnessing a repeat of the Chelsea Pantomime where the manager engineers the sack and walks away with a shed load of money. Why wouldn't he? And why would the players give a toss? They certainly don't look as though they do. RA has become like a race horse trader, buying, selling loaning out players right left and centre. Not football as I remember it . Pretty bloody tedious actually. We're becoming a graveyard for talent

 

The battle on top 4 is becoming more difficult, these are the fixtures everyone has. This game must be a win for us.

Whenever Conte has a whole week to prepare a gameplan he is usually spot on ( The main reason we won the league last year). Wouldn't suprise me if we robbed these CITYZENS

City, Spurs, Liverpool and about 3 of our bogey teams. We're f**ked. 

On 25/02/2018 at 22:39, carrickblue said:

Spurs have still to play us and City; obviously we've got Spurs then, but we've this game v City and play Liverpool in May. I think top 4 is going to rest on these games. We have got to beat Spurs and get something from the City and Liverpool games. I'm undecided about how good Man Utd are but on current form, City, Liverpool and Spurs are the best sides. We're a little bit off and need to find something to get us through, it's not getting any easier.

I'd be amazed if we beat any of y*ds, dippers or city, and throw in the odd sh*t performance against lesser teams and we will have to decide what's best Europa league or no Europe at all. Mind you with our lot I'm not sure whether their good enough to even be able to not qualify for Europa if they wanted to. Piss poor all season and to be honest first time in 30 odd years when losing a big game it didn't really bother me after about a minute of the final whistle last Sunday. Just find this team at present to be so detached from fans. 

Sorry to be negative nancy but I'd be amazed if we somehow managed to get a top four place now. For the game on the weekend I can't see anything other than a City win as the team seem to be lacking in leadership, luck and balls.

We’ll get something from this one...

It’s a 4pm kick off, not 2pm as the thread title says though.

Hate to say it but 4-2  with us scoring first  1-1 at half time  then Conte will do his defensive mode take Hazzard off and we will fall apart  trying to defend  

This is one of these games where everyone expects us to get battered yet we get something out of the game.

Reminds me of the game against Liverpool, that day Gerrard slipped. Prior to the game they looked invincible.

A win would be dreamy, but I’d snatch a draw.

I’m sure we will defend better than the ars tonight!

I'm not looking forward to this much but then again I thought Barca would spank us and we turned in a great performance, so you never know.

Come on Chelsea!

City are playing a brilliant football, to be honest. Against Arsenal, they played without a defensive midfielder and with three attacking midfielders and it actually worked for them very well. 

Their passing forward is very good, make them very dangers every attack, but our defence is better, I expect our 5 defenders to stop them and then turn it into a counter attack. We have the ability for that, Moses and Alonso must be the keys for that. Maybe we aren't at our best period, but the first half against Manchester United showed how strong we can be, so I believe Conte will go with that formation again. 

Seems like Barkley is back to the squad also.

1 hour ago, IliyaKrostin said:

City are playing a brilliant football, to be honest. Against Arsenal, they played without a defensive midfielder and with three attacking midfielders and it actually worked for them very well. 

Their passing forward is very good, make them very dangers every attack, but our defence is better, I expect our 5 defenders to stop them and then turn it into a counter attack. We have the ability for that, Moses and Alonso must be the keys for that. Maybe we aren't at our best period, but the first half against Manchester United showed how strong we can be, so I believe Conte will go with that formation again. 

Seems like Barkley is back to the squad also.

Every time Ross Barkley plays for Chelsea, he looks like this.

 

Tibo

Dave Christensen Rudiger

Moses Kante Ampudu Alonso 

Willian Giroud Hazard 

Gona get huge stick for this, but i think christensen needs to sit this one out, huge mistakes in the last 2 games,and in theory they were the 2 biggest games of the season, win against utd we would look good for top 4, after his 2 mistakes we look odds on to miss out, he has great potential but hes not good enough for the elite matches IMHO, the problem though is i dont trust cahill either,

Not a chance

top 4 is done we have the hardest run in and are in the worst form

we all know conte is gone at the end of the season

yhis team has a rotten core and it needs digging out

Not a chance
top 4 is done we have the hardest run in and are in the worst form
we all know conte is gone at the end of the season
yhis team has a rotten core and it needs digging out

But apart from that things are going swimmingly for us don't you think?

Maybe going toe to toe with City could be the best idea. There is no reason why Chelsea with players like Kante, Hazard, Fabregas, Willian, Alonso and Moses, and even Giroud/Morata can't cause them problems. Of course, the way things have gone this year it probably won't work, but sitting back for 90 mins hoping on a for a few counter attacking opportunities won't work either. We are already chasing the top 4 pack, so why relax and give it a whirl. 

Edited March 2, 20188 yr by Famous CFC

Don't want to be too pessimistic but cant see anything more than a point, at best hope im wrong, on the plus side the Gooners are 8 points of 5th place and CFC now, so looks like were nailed on for Thursday night football next year, unless March starts getting worse than the last 2 months put together. One request of the manager play Giroud, hes the best option as a striker the squad has got currently, no false 9.

 

Josh Grant has trained with the first team ahead of the Citeh game, one of the more underrated Youth players.

7 hours ago, Famous CFC said:

Maybe going toe to toe with City could be the best idea. There is no reason why Chelsea with players like Kante, Hazard, Fabregas, Willian, Alonso and Moses, and even Giroud/Morata can't cause them problems. Of course, the way things have gone this year it probably won't work, but sitting back for 90 mins hoping on a for a few counter attacking opportunities won't work either. We are already chasing the top 4 pack, so why relax and give it a whirl. 

Don't know if conte will do this here but hope he does so against barca. Best to lose giving it a go than draw and go out on a wimper.

10 hours ago, Jamjar1986 said:

Gona get huge stick for this, but i think christensen needs to sit this one out, huge mistakes in the last 2 games,and in theory they were the 2 biggest games of the season, win against utd we would look good for top 4, after his 2 mistakes we look odds on to miss out, he has great potential but hes not good enough for the elite matches IMHO, the problem though is i dont trust cahill either,

With Luiz injured, he will defo play.

We are gonna win this!!! You heard it here first. Just have a feeling about this.

15 hours ago, Jamjar1986 said:

Gona get huge stick for this, but i think christensen needs to sit this one out, huge mistakes in the last 2 games,and in theory they were the 2 biggest games of the season, win against utd we would look good for top 4, after his 2 mistakes we look odds on to miss out, he has great potential but hes not good enough for the elite matches IMHO, the problem though is i dont trust cahill either,

I agree with you. He's undoubtedly a great talent but he's been carrying our defence this season and it's inevitable that mistakes will happen. Unfortunately his have come at the wrong moment.