DYC.

It's scary but those are the exact eight HG players I have in the fantasy squad in my head. I'd love for Baker to stay. Chelsea boy who at least possesses a specialty, his delivery and attempts from set-pieces. Decent shooting from range as well. But I honestly don't see it happening. No need for six CBs though. Back-ups won't get a lot game time bar injuries and if you do have an emergency at the back with three CBs out injured, you simply revert to a back four.

That's because the praise was exaggerated (I see the same happening with Kanté). All the good is perceived as great and all the bad is ignored. While I never rated him as the best, I too got very excited and thought he was a top defensive midfielder in 2014. But maybe he was at the time. He was playing really good football (domestically anyway). It happens. Playing at the maximum of your capabilities for a certain period of time. But if you take off the blinders and remain critical at all times, you can still notice flaws. And the severity of those flaws will help you to truly judge the quality of the player. I thought Matic started the season off well enough but his form tailed more than a minute ago. He's played his part in Chelsea's current position but mostly because of the skillset he offers. He's not good enough.

I don't think Dortmund can afford to spend 50m+ on a single player (along with the wages that come along with such a deal) even if they make a lot of money from sales. See the past window when they sold Hummels, Gundogan and Mkhitaryan. And it's hard to imagine him picking being the 'best of the rest' in Germany over a genuine shot of consistent succes with Chelsea. It would indeed depend on Conte and the club being able to sell him the idea of the 'Chelsea experience'. Such extreme buy-out clauses are mostly installed for intimidation purposes though. In most cases, it doesn't actually come to paying the full amount. I don't think it will in this case because there's still a hierarchy in place. 'A Torino player can't command a near world record fee'. But I guess anything is possible in today's market.

How are you 6ft5 and not dominant in the air? He's so painfully average in the air for a guy his size.

He also won 7 aerial duels yesterday, which is impressive. He's greatly improved his aerial game this season. Last season he won 2,9 out of 4,9 aerial duels (59%) per game. This season it's 3 out of 4.2 (71%). An impressive figure. Luiz is on 53%, Cahill 61% and Azpi 54%. But fair play to them, PL is tougher than the BL in this area. A night of facing crosses vs Benteke, Carroll, Llorente, Rondon is no party. But Christensen is good in the air.

Only the truly financially powerful can afford him though. Barcelona, Real, Bayern, PSG and Juve all have an established striker and aren't in the market for one. City have Aguero and 'wonderkid' Jesus so I doubt they'll be in for him. Arsenal and Liverpool can't compete with Chelsea financially. Utd want to continue with Zlatan and Zlatan doesn't play second fiddle to anyone. But I guess there's a possibility they would be interested. But Chelsea will most likely have the title win as an advantage, along with an Italian in charge. And there's a strong possibility Utd won't be able to offer CL football unlike Chelsea. Living in London instead of Manchester doesn't hurt either. I think Chelsea would stand a genuine chance if they are willing to invest. The club transfer record would definitely have to be broken but selling Costa would soften the blow on the pockets.

Courtois Christensen - Luiz - Azpilicueta Fabinho - Kante - Nainggolan - Alonso Hazard - Belotti - Sanchez GK; Cahill, Moses; Chalobah, Fabregas; Pedro, Llorente Oh my days Plenty of tactical options depending on the games at hand

Yeah, the rugby tackle. I was done with him when I saw that. He could've been sent off on another day and hurt Chelsea for absolutely no reason. The ball wasn't even in his vicinity. I thought/hoped the Costa we saw in the first half of the season was the beginning of a new man. After having to endure niggling injuries for so many years he was finally fit, which must've been a relieve. And now he finally managed to focus on his own game and was developing a new level of maturity by channeling his aggression in a positive manner. 28 is a great age for such a change to take place. A striker entering his prime. But nahh, it was all smoke and mirrors. He was simply in the form of his life. But when that red hot form deserted him, his vision became hazy again and he lost his zen. There's no room for excuses anymore. I'm only for replacing players if there's an upgrade ready to join though. Costa can still be useful to Chelsea. Purchasing Sanchez makes even more sense now. Whenever Costa goes off the boil again, Sanchez can then take over in the middle. It's either that or another Drogba/Crespo (Drogba/Anelka) is created. But Costa can not be depended on for a full season, sadly. That much is clear.

He's always been my POTY. I find Kanté overrated but saying that is just asking for trouble. The amount of times Hazard has been the standout player on the pitch, whether he scored/assisted or not, is staggering. For me anway.

POTY.

Weak performance but a win is a win at the end. It's odd but Chelsea have become weaker in every line. Slightly worrying but let's see how they play in the next two games. How do you lose a game you were leading until the 88th min? Sigh... whatever.

Don't know if the changes are going to work but I like the initiative.

In the first few months of the season. His energy drops as the season goes on. A different ref could've sent him for that football tackle on Delph btw. Completely random and ridiculous move. And it's not even not scoring. He's ruining attacks with poor play.

Bats is apparently worse and that's pretty scary to be honest.

Funny bald GK, haha. Can always count on wild wild Willy. I want Hazard to be my baby daddy. Too bad he's lost his cool from the spot though. Costa is annoying. I can't stand it when my team (apparently) has to depend on a frustratingly underperforming player. Shades of Ivanovic here. Why not take him off for Willian and go with three roaming forwards. No real need for Costa in this game. Disappointed in big nose. Could've cost his team dearly with that horrible pass. And Cahill and his backing off always riles me up. What academy taught him that? Get that third goal quick, please.

It's because of Cesar in midfield. Matic will be back again.

A midfielder in defence then. Still out of position. Chels will probably never face a weaker City team for at least the next five years.

Their backline includes a winger, two pretend defenders in Stones and Clichy and Kompany, who's played like three games in the past three years. And then there's the funny bald GK and Delph in midfield as well. Yeah, I'm gonna need a win here, Chels. Perform like you're supposed to and nothing less than a W is to be expected. There's even a possibility of doing some real damage here.

Iniesta isn't good at crossing or delivering good set-pieces. In the Netherlands there's a football term called 'traptechniek'. It translates to kick(ing) technique in English, refering to the ability of kicking/striking the ball with finesse, power, swerve and dip. Quality corner deliveries are about power, swerve and dip. Players like Pirlo and Kroos are capable of striking the ball with those techniques in a very controlled fashion. Long passing is mostly about finesse. It's more of a stroke than an actual kick/strike. Those typical Fabregas passes from around 25-35m from goal is a subtle technique. Pirlo is a master of both. It's arguably what made his career. Kroos not so much, more of a cross passer. There's a bigger correlation between direct FKs and corners than long passes and corners. But they're still different techniques. Messi is a FK and long passing master but his set-piece delivery is a 6, 6.5 out of 10 at best. I relate because my traptechniek is my specialty as an amateur. Too big for corner delivery duty though. But like Greavsie said above, if most can't do it, it's obviously an extremely hard skill to master and a rare talent.

He shoud look in the mirror and criticise himself for struggling for a top 4 place when he had this squad at the start of the season: GK: De Gea, Romero CB: Bailly, Smalling, Rojo, Jones FB: Valencia, Darmian, Blind, Shaw MF: Pogba, Herrera, Schneiderlin, Fellaini, Carrick, Schweinsteiger WF: Mkhitaryan, Mata, Martial, Depay, Lingard ST: Ibrahimovic, Rooney, Rashford Smalling isn't a lesser player than Cahill. Valencia and Blind aren't lesser players than Moses and Alonso. Herrera isn't a lesser player than Matic. Pogba and Kanté are completely different players but are on a similar level in terms of quality. Mkhi and Mata aren't lesser players than Pedro and Willian. The likes of Shaw, Martial and Rooney are seriously underperforming as well. Rashford looks like a shadow of his former self. The players that left only left because he didn't use them (Depay and Schneiderlin have already made an impact at their new clubs). Go on and blame the players and spend more hundreds of millions though.

- If this is a real quote - Shaw is 21 and has played for Southampton, Utd and England. Mourinho enjoyed a non-existent career. How dare he make such a claim? How can he be taken seriously? Why didn't anyone interrupt him and check him on spewing bull****? I don't feel sorry for him but there's a man in charge who doesn't take him seriously. And if I were in Shaw's shoes, I wouldn't take my manager seriously and wouldn't want to play under him. The thirst for an uproar in me hopes Luke punches him in the nose.

Amazing how the media (and their fans) aren't throwing tomatoes at the manager. So many players underperforming. Utd, Arsenal and City possess the best squads in the league but he's probably managed to convince them this is the best they're capable of. He's an expert in selling fallacies.

It's not won but it will be won. There's a difference. I can see the work done to get into this position and that hard work will be continued until the end to win it.

Fine. I know when I'm not wanted. Peace. Who names their child Jason anyway...

I'm convinced Chels will win the title. I had the same feeling in 14/15 when I had to read and hear posts and sounds of worry. They know and have what it takes to bring it home. If necessary, it will be won in the ugliest fashion. But it will be won. Of course, there's a (slight) chance of capitulation but I just don't see that happening. Not based on what I've seen of Chelsea and the rivals this season.