CFC888

No chance of that happening as far as I'm concerned. Kurt is very much a required player for the second half of this season and beyond, and I'm sure there's no way we'll be letting go of him.

Yep, and I think it's an area of his game that will improve with more experience. Sometimes you have to go through a bad run of form to prove to yourself that you are good enough to come out the other side of it. Even when he had those bad couple of games recently, he was still creating assists and scoring opportunities for himself also, he was just sending them off target or they were getting blocked.He is always going to have the class, and he's always going to be creating opportunities for himself and his teammates, it's just a matter of him remaining positive even if he goes through a tough period where he can't find the back of the net himself.

Completely faultless against Watford and Newcastle. He has come on in leaps and bounds since some awkward performances during pre-season. Just needed a bit of time. For now I think Gazza is still the man to start alongside JT, but Kurt provides great cover until JT when he eventually calls it quits, when I think Kurt is most certainly the man to take over his spot.

I'm hoping a drought-breaking goal against Newcastle will give Oscar some added confidence, and he definitely thrives on this. I think his uncharacteristically animated celebration after scoring shows just how much he needed a goal to end a tough period of illness and poor performances.

Tough fixture, but providing we start well (which is by no means guaranteed) then I expect us to be able to come away with the 3 points. That good start I speak of may require something a bit innocuous like poor marking at a set piece allowing JT to pop up and head us into the lead (like we saw at Stoke). I expect us to line up as follows: Cech Ivanovic Terry Zouma Luis Matic Fabregas Willian Oscar Hazard Costa Subs: Courtois, Ake, Cahill, Mikel, Ramires, Drogba, Remy. - Cech to stay in goal after a strong performance against Newcastle and that with a broken thumb, Thibaut probably needs a little more time out. - Luis straight in for Dave, Ake to provide full backs cover on the bench. - I've kept Gazza on the bench because I believe Zouma was faultless against Newcastle. - For me Oscar remains at #10 despite a compelling argument in favour of Mikel starting alongside Matic and Cesc pushing further forward. I'm hoping a drought-breaking goal against Newcastle will give Oscar some added confidence, and he definitely thrives on this. I think his uncharacteristically animated celebration after scoring shows just how much he needed a goal to end a tough period of illness and poor performances.

I tend to agree with the general consensus that Fabregas and Cahill are the two frontrunners. However, if they wanted to go for a younger option as they did with JT, then I could see either Hazard or Courtois growing into a fantastic leader.