Chelsea v. Burnley Saturday, August 12, 2017 Stamford Bridge, London, UK TV (US): NBCSN Time: 10:00AM EST Injuries and Suspensions Burnley: Marney (out) Chelsea: Bakayoko, Hazard (out) Notable transfers Burnley: (in) Jack Cork, Jonathan Walters, Phil Bardsley; (out) Michael Keane; (banned) Joey Barton Chelsea: (in) Tiemoune Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger, Alvaro Morata; (out) Nemanja Matic, Nathan Ake, Juan Cuadrado, Asmir Begovic, John Terry Notes -Head-to-head, we have played Burnley 71 times with Burnley holding a 33-15-23 record over us -Chelsea EPL form: WWWWWW -Burnley EPL form: LLWDLL -Last meeting: 1-1 on February 12, 2017 -Burnley leading scorers 16/17: Sam Vokes (12), Andre Gray (10) -Chelsea leading scorers 16/17: Diego Costa (22), Eden Hazard (17) Liklihood of the press running a shot of Conte yelling 82% Liklihood of Ivan starting at right back Highly likely. Will Conte berate a female employee on the field in front of thousands of people to start off a title defense? Unlikely. Will we win? Unlikely. I predict a 1-1 draw. Burnley scores first and we struggle to break them down. Beer pairing It's a new season, but it's still summer. Enjoy it with these guys. Dogfish Head Seaquench (Delaware, USA) Session Sour Lime peel, black limes, and sea salt. Puckery at first, but really addictive. Westbrook Key Lime (South Carolina, USA) Gose A really refreshing sour gose. Outstanding with a hint of key lime pie sugary-ness. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24134/224761/ Lawson's Finest Sip of Sunshine IPA (Vermont, USA) Enjoy cold, this guy is nice and juicy and one to savor. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17980/117177/
Costa in exile Hazard injured Bakayoko is injured Rudiger is a backup Morata still an unknown Michy is a ? Midfield is thinner than an actress on coke Conte unsettled
We have a pretty much fine starting lineup bar Hazard. Transfers aside, any kind of bad performance is only going to make Conte and the players look bad. No excuses tbh
My guess is the lineup will be what we saw in the Shield and pray that our midfield isn't overrun. Maybe we mix it up and take Pedro out for Morata and stick him in the middle with Michy on the wing (barf).
Considering our wealth of center backs then all this means is Azpi plays RWB. If anything I feel more comfortable with that. Potential lineup: --------------Thibaut Azp-Rud/Andreas-Luiz-Cahill-Alonso --------------Fab---Kante Willy--------Michy/Morata-----Pedro (or Morata here, who knows) Not bad at all. I'll save my actual concern over squad depth when the cup games come. Til then there is a pretty decent chance we sign 2-3 players whoever the ******** they may be.
80 days ago we defeated Sunderland 5-1 to lift the trophy. Everybody was happy, Terry went out in style etc etc Less than 3 months later the mood has changed! Need a win on Saturday to righten the ship.
The manner in which City have done their business this summer has been disheartening to our fans. Our issues have been known for some time and we've been slow to act. City are the team to beat. Watch out for The Jesus.
Well, Pedro is out with an ankle injury, and Conte hints that Rudiger may start tomorrow. So, are we looking at a Musonda start? Courtois; Cahill, Luiz, Rudiger; Alonso, Cesc, Kante, Dave; Musonda, Morata, Willian
This is a team that has not played together at all. If Pedro is out, I suspect Michy and Morata will play up top with one of them on the wing and one in the middle. Not great. Pedro does a lot of running for us.
Holy f*cking emo.. Kante and Cesc have featured a solid enough amount together. Despite our midfield getting overran in that 1-1 draw in which their only goal was from a very well taken free kick, I think they'll be fine. Luiz/Cahill/Rudiger as our CBs? That's a bad a thing..? If Luiz were missing I'd be concerned but Rud is a natural CB unlike Azpi, not exactly too concerned there. The worst thing for me is not having Hazard. This team can look extremely stagnant if he isn't playing or not in form. Musonda could turn out to be something special.. lets hope. This is coming from someone who felt a huge amount of revulsion before the "Mourinho season" ... you know, when Ivanovic was an undisputed starter. I don't quite get that now as much as I'm only really worried once fixtures start piling.
I will say this. One thing I think contributed to our horror season was losing two huge leaders in the dressing room: Didier and Cech. JT was past it but was still a massive figure for us.. if shit gets hairy I'm not sure who in this team is going to hold it together.
Im concerned only because a good defense needs to play together to be a cohesive unit. I dont doubt the quality of Rudiger, but he hasn't played with our team in a real match yet. I just expect some rockiness at the outset. Lines won't straight, passes may be astray, communication not locked in, especially with a guy like Courtois who isn't the most vocal.