King Kante

Sorry, physically Hazard is done. No way should he be coming back. Only AM's we should be looking at are Chiesa and Raphina.

Problem is, he'll go off on international duty and get injured again.

Be interesting to see how CM plays itself out as it is actually quite complex when you take contracts into consideration. I would break the players down into five categories. Cat 1 - 100% safe/certain to be here next season Kovacic - Peak age and playing well. No chance he leaves. Kante - only way he doesn't stay is if Newcastle or PSG (possible if they fail in the CL as their CM is their weakest position) go mental and offer £70m+ or something (this however I do not see due to age and injury record over the past 18 months.) However, even if one of them do, I cannot see him being keen as by all reports he is super settled. Maybe 99% certain rather than 100%. Cat 2 - Contract situation Jorginho - Only has one year after this season. 30 in Dec and reportedly was in contact negotiations that have gone very quite. Agent has made some comments about him going back to Italy. I think he'll see out his contact but wouldn't rule out a Summer move 100% as club will probably want to avoid another Rudiger. Cat 3 - Not good enough/not needed/difficult to move Saul - goes back after loan. Still think he is a decent player but looks lost at sea in the PL. Barkley - Ok, he is getting a few minutes here and there but he is clearly just making up numbers. Issue however is contract as I reckon the only reason he isn't sold/loaned again is due to his wages. Could end up just being loaned until contract expires. Outside chance of a sale. Cat 4 - Sold to raise some cash, possibly one more year. RLC - This one may be controversial. In midfield we have a lot of players and he is now at an age where you cannot class him as consistent enough to depend on (injured again and not enough of a track record.) For me, I reckon a bid of over £20m (his wages caps his fee) gets him. May get another year depending on what happens with Jorgi/Gallagher. Cat 5 - Loan players Gilmour - Don't see him back next season. Should really have been loaned last season and is now not playing again. Still only 19. In my opinion, loan him out to Spain or Italy (why didn't he go there instead of Norwich this season as he is a prefect fit there?) Personally, I think it is in everyone's interests for him to get 80+ games before he returns as his type of position/play style requires experience/maturity. Only way he comes back is if the Jorgi situation doesn't resolve itself. However, even then he'll need a full half season operating at a very good level. Gallagher - Looks ready to come back. Situation is complicated however due to the above players. Personally, I don't see the point of him coming back to initially play the CM4 role. With Kova and Kante here for certain at best he starts at CM3 (if Jorgi leaves.) If Jorgi stays then it will be a toss up between him and RLC. If RLC is able to keep himself fit this season, I can see a situation where it is decided that he is best off at Palace being a top dog, playing week in, week out for another season for the experience.

Honestly buddy, I wouldn't hold your breath. This is how he played at Utd and Inter. Only reason people got excited about him at Inter was due to him playing against weaker teams and only looking at stats/highlights.

That won't be in the next two games.

James is quite a complete player, two good feet and reads the game very well for his age. I still not sure he will spend his entire career at RB/RWB however as he isn't that quick compared to some others' and I think his crossing is much better when he gets to set himself (which is hard at RWB as a lot of the time you have to play the ball first time.) Personally, I could certainly see him moving to RCB or DM/CM (think Essien) in the next couple of years. That goes double if Livra keeps on improving at his current rate and we activate the buy back. Either way, he'll be a Chelsea player for a long time.

Could see Utd paying £100m for him (or close to that.)

I'll admit that I thought Chilwell was overpriced (still do tbf) however, credit where credit was due, he has improved this season and if he continues to do so then yes, he'll be a great player. That said, I still have issues with how one footed he is as when ever he receives on his right, 95% of the time he has to play it straight back as he doesn't trust it enough to turn with it. For me, he'll need to work on that if he wants to become world class.

Of course, however that is the one objective of the three that is least likely to be met. They're playing very poorly at the moment and Napoli and Milan are both very consistent whilst Inter really should have more points than they do with how they have played. From where I am sitting they'll be in a bun fight with Atalanta, Lazio and Roma for that last position unless one of the other three really drop off.

That could make things interesting.

I think it will be a strong side due to the fact that we lost to Juve and can't take any risks. Mendy Dave AC Rudi James Jorgi Kante Chilwell Mount/Ziyech Havertz CHO

He is progressing very nicely. CM however is a bit of a funny one at the moment in its make up. I see him back, just not sure whether he may get two years at Palace or not as it may be better to allow him the game time.

I think Kante rides out most of the rest of his career with us now. There was an argument that he should've been sold in Summer 2020 as we would've still got very good money for him however now I see a situation where he is happy to stay in London and the club won't push someone out that is so loved. In future seasons, it may be we just manage his time rather that run him into the ground.

I think this is a case of how you watch the game. I don't really disagree with your analysis however I calculated that we were in control and were wearing them down. As for James, he is one of the few players we have that are capable of such shots. For sure, cannot expect quite the level of that one week in week out, however from my perspective the Chilwell, Alonso and James are all capable of taking chances that present themselves if given time, which they should get if they overload properly. Chilwell in particular has impressed me with his finishing recently as it seems to have improved.

Reading the pages of the first half wasn't what I saw personally. For me it looked like we were in control and running them ragged which was going to pay off in the second half as teams cannot defend like that for 90 mins. Additionally, we had a marginal offside goal plus Ziyech missing a very decent chance. Could the forward line have been more fluid? For sure, but it also needs to be remembered Mount was a last minute drop out, St James' is one of our bogey grounds and Ziyech/Harvetz/CHO as a trio haven't had that many games together. All in all, I actually thought the game as a whole was incredibly professional and well executed. As for the rest of the results, we couldn't have asked for more really unless Brighton really should've scored another of something (not seen highlights yet.) Additionally, I am surprised (ok, not really) that people are still struggling to comprehend that in a 3atb system the WB's are only defenders in the defensive phase of play and attackers in the offensive phase. For me, I have no concerns about having goals come from them as they're the ones meant to be causing overloads. Of course, teams will adjust to this a little if they keep going at this pace, but if they do that it should create more space for the AM's and CF (hopefully not Lukaku who I want starting from the bench when he returns as I prefer him pointing for there.) All in all great day, onwards and upwards and let's ensure we get a similar type of performance against Burnley next week.

I hate this fixture with a passion as we always seem to have a nightmare up there. For me, it has to be full strength. Mendy AC/Dave Silva Rudi James Jorgi Kante Chilwell Mount Harvetz CHO

What did he do?

Yeah, I had to take a break from the nonsense I was reading about how Lukaku had turned into a top CF by beating up on Serie A sides.

I cannot believe the kid signed a five year contract + 1 year option. He is going to have to roll with West Ham for another two years now. I do still have some reservations about his passing ability if dropped into the Chelsea midfield. That said, he does look like he is continuing to steadily improve.

Well, I didn't go to bed for quite that long but I did think I'll leave it for a while to allow Lukaku to show all his fabulous abilities that he learnt in Italy to shine through that you were so confident about. How is that going for you? Enjoying the statuesque performances where he stands in position pointing to where he wants the ball played, rather than, you know, moving the line by making off the ball runs so the AM's/CM's can actually play him in and give the AM's an opportunity to run off their markers? Really that crazy? I mean what goal or game has he played where we can say he has played really well against a top side (a skill that he had apparently learnt in Serie A?) I mean my whole issue with him was that beating up the likes of Zenit and Villa didn't make a €100m signing. From what I have seen so far he has been pocketed by VDV (even in the first half before we went down to 10 men), Dias and the Juve pair (i.e. the only decent CB's he has really come up against) then had pretty much the same sort of games as Giroud and Tammy had against the others. Only goal you can maybe say he got other than those two was his second against Villa when the game was already won. Additionally, last time I checked Giroud was outscoring Lukaku in Serie A on a minute to goal ratio and that was with Lukaku taking penos.

Lukaku's first touch is pretty poor, thus I have evidence for the reference. Juan's only interactions with people on here is through odd posts here and there and he has no idea of what they're like in real life.

Oh, no! Juan is upset about people talking bad about signing a donkey* he likes for €130m. We had all better watch out! He sounds really big and scary typing away on his keyboard calling people names and trying to psycho analyse them. * In football, especially in the United Kingdom, a player who is considered unskilful is often dubbed a "donkey",[35] and the term has a similar connotation in poker https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_references_to_donkeys

For €130m? Yes. When you spend the sort of money that we are on Lukaku, you're pretty much all in on him for five years. At Utd, he had a good first four-six months then was largely crap as people knew how to deal with him in that system. Expect something similar. Some people on here are are getting bamboozled by him stat padding by scoring tap ins at Inter.

Honestly, I'd would have preferred to have kept Giroud or even give Tammy another year.

You can if you see 2015 to now as a whole instead of isolating 2017 and shifting it to Conte. Barring last season the club have been pulling this nonsense for six years now.