DYC.

The most sluggish and unathletic backline among the top sides in Europe for sure. It infuriates me.

I thought he was really poor in the first half. Strangely enough he upped his game after the red card and actually became the best player on the pitch. Held on the ball a bit too long at times though, and he should've taken shots. Too nice, Eden.

So unfair. What was Falcao going to do with his lack of pace? Remy's pace and experience in wide positions would've been so much more useful.

Shocking display.

Frustrating. That bench. Can't get over that bench.

Is this surprising though? He's getting old. Fullback is a young man's position, it's so demanding.

Struggling in the backline a bit, but the pressing has been excellent though. The amount of times the ball has been won high up is really impressive. Swansea barely breathing for most of the game. It's just that Chelsea have been sloppy themselves.

Surprisingly good going forward. The energy of the team is really exciting to watch. Excellent pressing as well. It does make play quite chaotic though. Terry caught slipping a few times. Ivanovic having a mare. Hazard has been really poor. Fabregas is a ghost. Again, high tempo games are his cryptonite. Yes, he's slow but so is Matic and he's fine. Costa looks fit, looks good too. Oscar FK goal #1. He'll score at least one more this season, I'm sure. That 2nd goal was so fortunate, right after conceding as well. Very thankful for that. Come out, score a third and slow the game down. Again, loving the energy. Never expected that today.

They finished 5th though. And you'd expect them to finish in the top 6 again this year.

Costaaa. Hopefully fully fit. The rest is expected. Come on Chels, I want a win. A good win might be too much to ask so I'll take any win.

Utd - Spurs was a terrible game btw. Supposed to be a top quality match between the PL's finest.

That's what I meant. In the absence of leftie Rojo, Van Gaal went with leftie Blind. He recently said he wants one left-footed CB and one right-footed CB.

2 reasons. Falcao is still a very big name and could produce sensational stories if he 'comes good'. Remy decided to join the Inzaghi challenge recently, trying to break the number of times you could get caught offside, and that erases all his contributions of last season. Welcome to football.

Completely agree. Height, strength, athleticism (I love that about him). Calm, strong in the air and he reads the game really well. Able to come out of defence and intervene as well. If he doesn't become world-class, he'll comfortably reach that bracket below the elite I think. Find a good partner for him and you have a strong CB duo. Not that it will fix their organisation when defending. Luckily for us, Van Gaal seems to insist on a left-footed CB, hence Blind today instead of the absent Rojo. Hope he continues with Blind at the back, Romero in goal and Depay at #10. Maybe add Fellaini on the right wing to the mix.

Courtois Ivanovic Cahill Terry Azpilicueta Fabregas Matic Willian Oscar Hazard Costa Begovic; Zouma, Baba/?; Mikel, Ramires, Cuadrado/Moses; Remy/Falcao Hart Zabaleta Kompany Mangala Kolarov Toure Fernandinho Nasri Silva Sterling Aguero Caballero; Demichelis, Clichy/Sagna; Fernando, Delph, Navas; Bony Cech Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal Coquelin Cazorla Chamberlain Ozil Sanchez Giroud Ospina; Gabriel, Debuchy/Gibbs; Flamini/Arteta, Wilshere/Ramsey, Walcott; Welbeck De Gea/? Darmian Smalling Rojo Shaw Schneiderlin Schweinsteiger Herrera Mata/Pedro Rooney Depay Romero; Jones, Blind; Carrick, Fellaini, Young/Valencia/Mata; Hernandez Some question marks about the Utd's line-up but I think the rest is correct for the most part. The competition isn't brilliant. Good teams. Very good teams if they perform like you expect them to. But none clearly above Chelsea. I was hoping for genuine improvement this season from our team but with the lack of transfers, that's probably not in the cards. Unless we're lucky enough to see multiple players to take the next step in their development, but that's a big if. There's also the possibility of Chelsea regressing. As in performing at a lower level than last season, form of individuals dropping. I'd rather think that won't be the case though. The bench is rather weak though, I have to say. Honestly don't like the look of it. Fitness will be key. There's the possibility City will add De Bruyne, a centre midfielder and maybe a new LB to the team, but that's unlikely. Maybe one out of three. Good team but a lot of players will have to seriously improve compared to last season to overtake Chelsea. Not to mention the way they would self-destruct as a team last season. But City have proven they do better after losing their title. Bench not impressive at all. Arsenal's team is fantastic for me. Not great, but impressive. They finally have that word-class GK. And they've assembled a really strong squad now as well. Plenty of options in defence, midfield and attack. And also plenty room for tactical changes. Wenger seems to finally have accepted he has to make changes and play smarter in big games as well. But as always, their problem is fitness. As long as they can't sort out keeping their players fit, they won't get the results they need (and break that mental barriere) over a full season. Losing De Gea would be a huge blow to Utd. And I was convinced Di Maria would come good and I think they've lost some real star quality in him. Depay is a fantastic talent imo but he's not ready to be a star yet. He could prove me wrong but I'm fairly confident it's too early for him. If they get Pedro, they've added a very good player to their ranks, but he's not an individual who will make the difference. He's not a game changer. Rooney is the only star quality player. Very good additions to their midfield. The added protection from midfield should improve their defending, something they lacked last year. But questions remain over the fitness of Schweini and Carrick. I think Herrera will continue to improve though, he's a really good player imo. Options on the bench aren't much to look at. And with all the new players, they'll need time to gel and form a unit. I still think it's too early for a serious title challenge from them. All in all, the title race will be a lot tighter I think, but Chelsea are still very much the favourites. The ablility to grind out results is still there and remains a huge advantage. Retaining the title is a must. But I'm not looking forward to the performances in Europe. Don't think they will be very pleasing on the eye to put it mildly (after reaching the last 16).

They've got some quality players (Silva, Verratti, Di Maria, Cavani/Ibra) and some brilliant young players (Marquinhos, Aurier, Rabiot, Lucas), along with good and solid players. I'd sell Ibra and start a new team (Ibra alone hugely influences the way they play, he's so dominant). They could use two extra squad options though, one in midfield and one up front. And they should've appointed Klopp. Sirigu Aurier Silva Marquinhos/Luiz Maxwell Verratti Motta Lucas Pastore Di Maria Cavani I'd rather invest in developing Marquinhos but Luiz cost a lot of money. Motta wants to leave though. They'll lack a good holding midfielder without him. Good team but also with it's issues. Their attacking line is light on goals. 3 creators and 1 scorer. Downside of the team. But an abundance of technique in midfield. They'll probably end up playing Cavani on the wing, waste Marquinhos and Lucas on the bench and play everything through Zlatan though.

I have to admit, I am starting to worry about his fitness. This team is not the same without him. He's vital to whatever succes which can be achieved in 15/16 so we can only hope he'll be fit.

Racist! Donsah, baby! Donsaaaah!!

Disagree with this. Saying Chelsea was the better team is the same as Arsenal fans saying they were better when Chelsea sit back. No team was really superior but Cech did practically nothing this game. Courtois had the busier day.

I'm just looking for an article with his quotes. Would be strange if he complained.

Reading Mourinho complained about Arsenal's game plan, is this true?

I'd like another option for the three. Someone to offer some real competition to Oscar and Willian. I'd like Pedro. Mostly because of his profile, with his off the ball running, ability to get into the box (how often do we see just 1 player, the striker, inside the box?) and good finishing. Moses and Cuadrado don't fill me with confidence and I doubt Traore can make much of an impact this season. I honestly think Costa was spared this game. This game wasn't important enough to possibly aggrevate his hamstrings. We can only hope he'll stay fit for the great majority of the season

And a centre midfielder and attacking player...

No good.