Pizy

If he moves we surely can't allow one of our rivals a free run at him. Dont think he fits the styles of Pep or Wenger/Arsenal at all so doubt they'd be after him. Liverpool is a no-go for obvious reasons. Spuds have Kane and wouldn't be able to spend the money on Lukaku anyways. That leaves ourselves and United. Think he'd be absolutely devastating for either of us.

Like the rest of us he's probably banking on one or both of City/Spuds dropping points tomorrow so it added an extra layer of icing on today's 3 points. Under Mourinho we would've gone into a shell, brought Zouma & Mikel on and taken a point all day.

Both good enough to be squad players which is what they will be. Luiz obviously won't be dropped next season and Azpi either. That leaves only one spot.

Yep, think we're all set for CB's with Andreas coming back and Zouma finally reaching full fitness. Wingbacks and midfield our most important areas of improvement assuming we keep hold of all our attacking players.

Said in the first half that Luiz was just dominating. When he plays like he did today there isn't a better CB in the world. Didn't take any unnecessary risks like he did trying to dive in on Rashford the other day. Ran the game.

Massive, MASSVE victory and 3 points! Fully deserved, too, and but for Grant making some outstanding saves would have been 3-4. Similar dominant 2nd half performance as United last week, really. Bossed possession and controlled the tempo. Stoke only looked dangerous for maybe a few minutes late in the match with those corners but otherwise we controlled them. Only real thing to bemoan is that Pedro should have buried a coup,e of those open chances.

He's never going to haul of Diego at half time.

When Diego is staying on his feet and really giving it his all he's causing them all sorts of problems. Just focus! I would bring Cesc on and play with 3 in midfield. We need more control and to dictate the pace of the game. The faster and more frenetic the match is the more it plays into Stoke's hands.

We're in serious danger of losing this if we don't get our heads in it.

Costa would never, EVER get that penalty. He was barely touched!!!

Luiz has dominated this game so far. Hopefully he's alright.

Sort your head out, Diego! FFS, you're gonna lose us this match if you keep doing this!

Please don't let Diego get wound up, please don't let Diego get wound up, please don't let Diego get wound up... If he plays like he did against United this'll be a long day.

Lineup as expected. Need Pedro to have his shooting boots on today and hopefully not have one of his matches where his touch is awful.

That may very well be the worst defending I've seen. How have WBA left the best player on the pitch in an acre of space inside your own box!? Goodness, me!

On the one hand we'll probably really need Cesc's creativity without Hazard, but on the other Stoke will probably pack their midfield and man-mark him and press. If we were at the Bridge I'd definitely start him because Stoke would allow us more space. Here, seeing we're without Hazard, they'll probably play a bit more and think they can get something so I'm not sure I'd start him.

I hope I'm wrong, but without the spark that is Hazard this may be one of those matches where we struggle to create much of anything against a side that'll set up to defend. Conte straight up said yesterday that against big, physical side he always plays Matic instead of Cesc so the only creative player we'll likely have on the pitch today is Willian. In truth, a front 3 of Costa, Pedro, and Willian should be good enough against Stoke. Just hope Eden's injury isn't bad and he's back after the international break. Results go against us this weekend and he's out for a while then we're in trouble. City and Spuds both out of Europe and will be given huge hope that we can be caught.

Fuck sake...

Think this has super boring low scoring game written all over it. Stoke will set up like they did against City by just trying to frustrate us and knock it long over and over to Crouch. Hopefully the potential doubts Conte spoke about aren't Hazard or either of our CB's because they'll be the most important players this game. An early goal for us would be perfect so Stoke actually have to open up and play which would work in our favor. Both Spuds and City have very difficult matches this weekend. Spuds without Kane against a good Southampton and City have a desperate Liverpool. A win for us and both of them dropping points would wrap up the title for good in my eyes.

I personally think Moses can be trusted more in big games than Alonso. As we've seen numerous times this season, Alonso is rendered useless when the other team has a pacey, athletic winger. He so slow defending and is awkward on the ball going forward. Valencia almost completely negated him going forward the other day. Moses at least has blistering pace and dribbling that will always cause problems.

Have you seen a single one of his press conferences or pre/post match interviews this season? He's an arrogant twat. He seems personally insulted when asked questions a lot of the time as if he's Einstein speaking to a child.

Glad City went out because I can't stand the arrogant Guardiola but I'd rather them have gone just a bit further so they're distracted in the PL and have major fixture congestion. Now they'll be in the same situation we are and can focus almost entirely on the league. They have an extremely tough schedule coming up starting with Liverpool this weekend. If Liverpool beat them and we beat Stoke I think we can rule them out completely as a threat to us. Stoke away may be one of our toughest tests of the season, though.

With the supposed massive war chest we'll have this summer we should seriously throw a bunch of it at Monaco. They're a selling club and need to comply with spending rules apparently. Bernardo Silva, Mendy, Fabinho, Bakayoko, and Mbappe would all really improve us. Mbappe will be one of the best players in the world when he reaches his potential. Every top club in Europe will be after him so going and offering Monaco a huge sum this summer is a must for whoever wants him.

We have to sign him. Unfinished business and all that. You know he'll play his heart out for the club as he's a genuine Chelsea fan. Offers all the goals Costa does without any of the baggage or angling for moves away. Only 23-24 years old and can only get better. Can end up giving the club 10 years or more and has the potential to eclipse Lampard as our leading goal scorer. We have a world class coach who can make him world class. Biggest worry is that Rooney will most certainly be off in the summer and Zlatan may be lured away to MLS mega dollars. Would not surprise me at all if Mou targeted both Griezmann and Lukaku. They'll be our biggest competition I think. Would be absolutely awful if he goes to one of our title rivals as I think he'll be even more lethal surrounded by top players. This report that he won't sign a contract coming from so many reputable sources at the same time screams leak directly from Lukaku's camp or even the club themselves. Surely a big, big club has been in Rom/Raiola's ear and told him not to sign anything as they'll be in for him in the summer. Hope it's us.

If Hazard approached every single match the way he did that one I wouldn't swap him for anyone but Messi. That's the next step in his development. To have an assassin's mentality. Currently, he'll have a match like that where he's unplayable but then follow it up with a performance where he'll play very passively. Really, really hope the club offer him yet another improved contract this summer to keep him happy and keep his head in London. The only attacking player we have that is irreplaceable. We need at least one more CL season out of him.