Chelsea perform well against the better teams away

[Spijed]

Whereas they've only beaten Boro, Sunderland & Palace 1-0 away.

Something to cling onto as we are far better than those sides at home.

I still expect a loss but at least we'll have a better chance than most sides.

[claretspice]

Said elsewhere, the thing which might help us is that our wingers are very used to defending. Keep the back 4 narrow, 2 midfielders just in front and deny whichever 2 they play from Pedro/Hazard/Willian any space, and then get our wide players to go 1 v 1 with the wing backs, and we may be able to frustrate them - their wing backs often benefit from being up against wide players who aren't natural defenders (see Walcott v Alonso for the opening Chelsea goal on Saturday) and that clearly won't be the case next Sunday. But its a huge task. They did beat Leicester 3-0.

[Dyched]

I wouldn't be too surprised to see Cesc get a start in this one. Depending what happens on Saturday a win for either team and safety/championship could be won.

[BleedingClaret]

I wouldn't be too surprised to see Cesc get a start in this one. Depending what happens on Saturday a win for either team and safety/championship could be won.

Bloody Fabregas... Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[BleedingClaret]

Said elsewhere, the thing which might help us is that our wingers are very used to defending. Keep the back 4 narrow, 2 midfielders just in front and deny whichever 2 they play from Pedro/Hazard/Willian any space, and then get our wide players to go 1 v 1 with the wing backs, and we may be able to frustrate them - their wing backs often benefit from being up against wide players who aren't natural defenders (see Walcott v Alonso for the opening Chelsea goal on Saturday) and that clearly won't be the case next Sunday. But its a huge task. They did beat Leicester 3-0.

Will you stop actually naming their players.... it's depressing me!

[claretspice]

I wouldn't be too surprised to see Cesc get a start in this one. Depending what happens on Saturday a win for either team and safety/championship could be won.

I would agree with that Dyched. Possibly instead of Matic. Matic and Kante are both great players, but neither are noted playmakers (they can do it to an extent, as all great players can) and Conte may well feel that Fabregas' ability to thread a pass is more beneficial to Chelsea against a massed, narrow defence than the presence and stability Matic in particular offers. If I were Conte, that's certainly what I would do given how I expect Burnley to line up, so I suppose I hope he doesn't.

[Dyched]

Ive been having images of Cante falling of the Cricket Field wall trying to celebrate with the chelsea fans

[Sidney1st]

I would agree with that Dyched. Possibly instead of Matic. Matic and Kante are both great players, but neither are noted playmakers (they can do it to an extent, as all great players can) and Conte may well feel that Fabregas' ability to thread a pass is more beneficial to Chelsea against a massed, narrow defence than the presence and stability Matic in particular offers. If I were Conte, that's certainly what I would do given how I expect Burnley to line up, so I suppose I hope he doesn't.

Barnes against Matic, round 2 would be worth seeing.

[bfcmik]

Chelsea have dropped just 2 points to date (2-2 v Swansea a) from all their games against teams outside the current top 5.

[Vegas Claret]

free hit for us, Chelsea will probably win but they'll probably beat most teams most weeks, I'm not concerned with them but more so with the upturn in the Hull and Swansea performances. I'm hoping that Bournemouth keep leaking goals and that Palace, Boro and Leicester can't find form from anywhere. The Sunderland result at Palace could be a one off, hopefully it is

[Blackrod]

Hopefully we can keep the score down. A narrow defeat and 3 teams below getting a battering would be OK.

[3putt]

Although unlikely, not boyond the realms of possibilities that we could get something from Sunday. We are a top 3 team at home and Turf Moor is a notoriously tricky place to come to.

If Heaton and the defence are on top form and we play with some freedom who knows......

[Tribesmen]

That's the thing about football as it's never over before kick off .
Expect nothing but true grit and hard work form the Clarets .

[SussexDon1inIreland]

lets hope we have a reasonable ref because otherwise 11 vs 12 may be too much (like vs Arsenal joke goal given to them at the end of the match and vs Man City penalty not given before Marney scored)

UTC

[dougcollins]

I think our centre backs will enjoy playing against Costa, right up their street.