3 minutes ago, robdog said:

looking at our history playing at Dean Court aka the Vitality Stadium, Chelsea haven't been the #1 side. remember what happened last season? The Cherries busted up Chelsea real good. What was it? 4-0?

Indeed:

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

Indeed:

yeah I am assuming it won't be a walk in the park for Super Frankie Young Lions - I hope for the best

Super Frank at the Pre-match press conference about RLC

1 hour ago, robdog said:

yeah I am assuming it won't be a walk in the park for Super Frankie Young Lions - I hope for the best

One thing I respect about the Cherries is they have a go and go for a result with a high work rate.

I can see Giroud and maybe Barkley potentially getting some change tomorrow.

Win this game and we are 3 points off Leicester.

Time to go back to the way we were playing in October when Lampard won manager of the month, a good set of fixtures for us to recover our form and go back to winning ways. The biggest issue at the moment is not with midfield or defence, it's our attack unfortunately, we need Pulisic back, even CHO actually. Because it looks like Willian isn't going to be playing many games now and for the love of god we cannot play with Barkley and Mount on the wings again, please no. 

I wold stick with the formation, not saying it's great but we can't just change formation every time we lose a game, and over complicate the system. If we go back to back 4, there is no threat from the left with Azpi playing, or worse Emerson. Against the so called smaller teams, Alonso may just chip in with something, while not getting carved up defensively. Willian will come into the team, and hopefull RLC will come on to give us that extra dimension in attack.

It's an away game after all, should be easy?

3 hours ago, evissy said:

Win this game and we are 3 points off Leicester.

They, like us, are struggling. If we can pull ourselves together we have a shot at 3rd. 

1 hour ago, icecoolguy22 said:

I wold stick with the formation, not saying it's great but we can't just change formation every time we lose a game, and over complicate the system. If we go back to back 4, there is no threat from the left with Azpi playing, or worse Emerson. Against the so called smaller teams, Alonso may just chip in with something, while not getting carved up defensively. Willian will come into the team, and hopefull RLC will come on to give us that extra dimension in attack.

It's an away game after all, should be easy?

With your idea in mind:

 

Willy Cab

 

Zouma

Christensen

Tomori

 

James

Jorginho

Kovacic

Alonso

 

RLC

Mount

 

Giroud

Better f**king win today. 

Game Day.

Come on Chelsea  !

21 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

In terms of our starting XI, there are a couple of considerations to make here:

- Who is actually fit to play? A lot of the squad have played 180 minutes in less than a week, and there a few players out injured. 

- What strength XI do we intend to play against Liverpool on Tuesday?

 

Caballero, Alonso, Rüdiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Barkley, Mount and Giroud all started against both Tottenham and Bayern. Kanté, Hudson-Odoi, Loftus-Cheek, Pulisic, and possibly Abraham are all injured. That leaves us with Willian, Pedro, Zouma, Batshuayi, Tomori and Emerson. Ouch. James and Barkley in particular looked completely exhausted. 

I'd be inclined to bring Kepa back for the Cup game, and I'd probably be looking to give Tomori and Zouma a run-out then as well. This seems like a good opportunity to get the two centre-backs some match sharpness. Our hands are pretty much tied in midfield, and we have a complete ballache up front (Giroud looked knackered before half-time on Tuesday, Abraham is apparently injured and Batshuayi is crap). I don't think we need a back three in this game. 

 

I suppose that leaves us with this undesirable situation:

 

----------------------------Caballero

Azpilicueta---------Zouma-----------Tomori---------Emerson

-----------------------------Jorginho

---------------------Kovacic----------Mount

----------Willian----------------------------------Pedro

-----------------------------Giroud

Good shout. I think we'll see Willian and Pedro in. Mount, Kovacic and Jorginho too. Although I suspect RLC might get his first minutes in this game. Mount in particular must be exhausted.

United play Everton tomorrow, and Spurs play wolves.

This is big opportunity to put some more distance between ourselves and and 1 or 2 others. 

Leicester lost last night, so we also have chance to get back to touching distance of them, and start to look up the table rather than down it.

Really big game this one. Hoping Giroud can can carry on his league form, and i would think Lampard is tempted to play RLC since we struggled against Billing in the home match.

We have a chance to close the gap on Leicester and increase the gap on Utd. This means today we drop points. ?

Edited February 29, 20206 yr by enigma

4-3-3 for me today.

Tomori and Zouma at centre back. Kepa back in for Caballero. Azpi at right back to give James a rest. The front six pretty much picks itself with the current injury situation.

 

Another massive game,we need a good run now,they need to forget what's happened it's in the past,show passion and go out and grab 3 points.

Leap Day !

The last leap day we played....

29 February 1992

Sheffield Wednesday

H

0–3

17,538

 

On a brighter note, the last leap year 2016, at this point of the season after 27 games, the table looked like this....

 

I dreamt about this game last night. Kepa was recalled and made a serious of blunders and we lost 2-8. Not sure what to make of that, but if it isn't a sign that I should predict 2-8 in the predictions thread, then I don't know what it is.

Edited February 29, 20206 yr by Zeta

Hopefully we see a midfield three of Kovacic/Jorginho/Ruben.Barkley can come in for Ruben later on cause Ruben probably cant play 90 minutes.Mount on the left wing with Willian on the right with Giroud upfront.Alonso should keep his place on the left .For me it's pointless to play Azpilicueta there.We concede goals either way.At least Alonso is some sort of threat going forward from that side.

Love to see tomori back in the side. I cannot fathom why he has not been playing

I would go for a sort of 5-3-1-1 or 3-5-1-1 in attack:

Kepa

Alonso
Tomori
Christensen
Zouma
James

Barkley
Kovacic
Jorginho

Mount

Giroud

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

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

I dreamt about this game last night. Kepa was recalled and made a serious of blunders and we lost 2-8. Not sure what to make of that, but if it isn't a sign that I should predict 2-8 in the predictions thread, then I don't know what it is.

If we lose 8-2 then we might as well pack football in

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

22 minutes ago, Bluesince66 said:

If we lose 8-2 then we might as well pack football in

We lost by 6 last season and this season our defence is even worse..so it's possible.

6 minutes ago, Zeta said:

We lost by 6 last season and this season our defence is even worse..so it's possible.

Positivity zeta,I know where Chelsea fans and that hasn't been very easily recently