14 hours ago, JM7 said:

Looking at the run in, we do have some difficult games. I feel it’s going to be tough to secure top 4. 

I agree. Need to hope rest gets Tammy firing again. Utd have rashford and pogba back so can see them finishing strongly. Really suspect city’s ban to be overturned as well so top four crucial. Big challenge for frank in his first season

1 hour ago, Adamrb said:

I agree. Need to hope rest gets Tammy firing again. Utd have rashford and pogba back so can see them finishing strongly. Really suspect city’s ban to be overturned as well so top four crucial. Big challenge for frank in his first season

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I actually think Pogba's return will inadvertently benefit us, trying to fit him and Fernandes in the same side has a Lampard/Gerrard for England problem written all over it.

Edited June 14, 20206 yr by Argo

Trying to predict our line up for this game is neigh on impossible ! 

Kepa

James   Rudi   Tomori   Azpi

Billy

Kovacic     Mount

Willian     Tammy     Pulisic

RLC and CHO both to feature from the bench. 

It's finally match week again boys and girls!! and I saw Simon Phillips report CHO, Reece James and N'Golo Kante are all available. That makes me excited. I'm ready to see what our boys can do to end this season before we add some more fire power.

             Kepa 

James Rudi Zouma Azpi 

        Gilmour  Kante

                 RLC 

Willian                 Pulasic 

              Tammy 

 

Come on Chelsea !

Yeah I  know it's only Tuesday morning...

On 12/06/2020 at 18:33, Sexyfootball said:

Arrizabalaga

Azpilicueta | Rudiger | Zouma | Alonso

Gilmour | Barkley | Mount

Willian | Giroud | Pedro

That midfield will get torn apart, youve got to be kidding right?

1 minute ago, dkw said:

That midfield will get torn apart, youve got to be kidding right?

Well tbh it was the same team that battered Everton and dismantled Liverpool in the cup game too and both games we kept a clean sheet.

3 minutes ago, STATS said:

Well tbh it was the same team that battered Everton and dismantled Liverpool in the cup game too and both games we kept a clean sheet.

2 teams that came opened up to attack, rather than a team like villa fighting relegation who will flood the midfield and scrap for everything. 2 totally different scenarios.

8 minutes ago, dkw said:

2 teams that came opened up to attack, rather than a team like villa fighting relegation who will flood the midfield and scrap for everything. 2 totally different scenarios.

It is still a game where we will dominate the ball. I think Tammy will be given the nod and Kovacic too. Pedro may drop out but on merit I would not be surprised if Lamps went with majority of that team. Out of interest who do you want coming out/in?

Just now, STATS said:

It is still a game where we will dominate the ball. I think Tammy will be given the nod and Kovacic too. Pedro may drop out but on merit I would not be surprised if Lamps went with majority of that team. Out of interest who do you want coming out/in?

Jorginho and Kovacic have to be in that midfield, as much as I would love to See Gilmour get more game time I dont think this one is right for him. So I would go with Jorginho/Kova in the middle, Mount in front with the 2 wide attackers also filling in behind when out of possession. Its going to get busy in the middle of the pitch and we need to number up other wise we could end up 5 against 3 at times. My only worry is if we play a 3 we are exposed down the flanks and thats where Villa attack, often with diagonals from the centre backs (mainly Mings) to the wingers who try and take the full backs deep. This will then leaves space if our midfield/wingers dont fill in, which is why I wouldnt be surprised if we do play Kante to combat that.

 

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

Jorginho and Kovacic have to be in that midfield, as much as I would love to See Gilmour get more game time I dont think this one is right for him. So I would go with Jorginho/Kova in the middle, Mount in front with the 2 wide attackers also filling in behind when out of possession. Its going to get busy in the middle of the pitch and we need to number up other wise we could end up 5 against 3 at times. My only worry is if we play a 3 we are exposed down the flanks and thats where Villa attack, often with diagonals from the centre backs (mainly Mings) to the wingers who try and take the full backs deep. This will then leaves space if our midfield/wingers dont fill in, which is why I wouldnt be surprised if we do play Kante to combat that.

 

Jorginho is suspended, otherwise pretty sure he would be playing. Villa have a game in the week and hoping that will be to our advantage. Also due to that, we will dominate the ball and eventually wear them down, hence why despite his small frame, I would rather see Gilmour than Kante in the lineup.

2 minutes ago, STATS said:

Jorginho is suspended, otherwise pretty sure he would be playing. Villa have a game in the week and hoping that will be to our advantage. Also due to that, we will dominate the ball and eventually wear them down, hence why despite his small frame, I would rather see Gilmour than Kante in the lineup.

I forgot he was suspended, in that case I could see Gilmour getting a game then. Again I`m not sure that midfield 3 has the physicality needed in a game like this, so Barkely maybe could come in. Then the problem is his positional awareness and discipline is terrible, he causes problems for his midfield partners because of this, they have to cover or him far too often. I think we will massively miss Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante if the midfield is made up of Mount/Barkely/Gilmour.

Kepa/Cabellero

James | Tomori/Rudiger Zouma/Christensen | Azpi/Emerson/Alonso

Kante/Kova | Jorginho/Gilmour | Mount/Barkley/RLC

Willian/Pedro | Tammy/Giroud | Pulisic/CHO

 

Can't get that starting XI wrong if I include everyone

Kepa

James Rudiger Zouma Alonso

Mount Gilmour Kovacic

RLC Tammy Pulisic
 

Possibly Tomori in place of either Rudiger or Zouma. RLC a bit of an outside shot out wide but makes sense to try him there if we’re struggling to keep Willian & Pedro beyond 30th June. 

glad to have footy back.. finish the season strong and next year looks like a good one 

10 hours ago, dkw said:

That midfield will get torn apart, youve got to be kidding right?

I merely think that the line up that won successive games against Liverpool and Everton, scoring six goals and conceding none, deserves to continue ...

I think RLC must be close to selection now ; would expect him to play a part at some point, but probably from off the bench.

Massive game and a must win if we are to finish in the top four. 

For me I think these signings have started to turn everyone's focus to next year when we still have to qualify for Europe.

With Villa scraping to avoid relegation this is exactly the kind of banana peel we have slipped up on all year. We need to change that.

The returns of the fixtures are wrong, Villa will have had a proper competitive match before us, and have  4.5 days to recover

2 hours ago, Ballack & Blu said:

The returns of the fixtures are wrong, Villa will have had a proper competitive match before us, and have  4.5 days to recover

True...Though they are the second worst team in the league so it should balance itself out 

I am not sure how serious this story is since Pedro played last week vs Reading

1 minute ago, robdog said:

I am not sure how serious this story is since Pedro played last week vs Reading

Pedro doesn’t seem like the sort so I’d be shocked if this was true. I’m expecting him & Willian to sign short term deals to cover the rest of the season. 

Pedro doesn't seem to be that kind of a player, he always has huge enthusiasm about playing and he's a great professional. If it's true then I guess that the other tweet about Werner not wanting to play the late stage of the Champions League because he wants to join us could also be very true. I still think that this is a bit blown out of proportion since with Pulisic back I don't think that Pedro would be in the starting lineup anyway...

These are special circumstances and I can understand why Pedro wouldn't want to risk injury and cause his move to Roma to fall through. He would, undoubtedly, play out the season if the season had finished with some normalcy and he had agreed terms with Roma. Given his age and the fact that he might not have many years left to play in top leagues, it might not be a risk he is willing to take. I don't take offense to it - while I'd prefer that we had him available as an option - I understand why he doesn't want to risk injury and losing out on a move.