Closed Man City vs Chelsea

[Kieran. 6,317]

Drogba has to start, but I wouldn't mind Nando out there with him.

[kingofchelseadom 41]

How many times have we all said this then we came out with the result.

Did you say that against them the first time? What about Napoli. Man city are not exactly underfeatable?

[kingofchelseadom 41]

Unfortunately i think we're playing them at a bad time. I know we're confident atm winning 4/4 but this is a completely different test and seeing that city are now plying catch up and have been on a very bad run lately, i can see them getting the job done against us. Any slip up for City now given Utd's run in will be very costly so i'll go 2-0 city.

Well lets continue the bad run here.

[kingofchelseadom 41]

Winning brings confidence, it's much better for us to be going into the games with City and Tottenham on the back of 4 straight "unimpressive" wins, than with stupid draws like we've been doing all season.

Look at Arsenal for example, during their current winning streak they have had games where they didn't play their best, and were lucky to win.

But the fact is they keep winning, and this is what we have been doing, and hopefully we can continue doing so.

eactly. Since when are City and Tottenham not beatable.

[tmessy 139]

Soak up pressure then counter.

4-4-1-1 (4-4-2 on offence)

Cech

Ivan - Luiz - JT - Cole

Ramires - Essien - Lampard - Mata

Drogba

Torres/Sturridge

wanted to play like this all season...but flip flop torres and drogba...

[FranklyFrank 103]

El plastico? At least we don't call 37 year olds out of retirement.

[English Freak 456]

I think it'll end in a draw but you never know, maybe Sturridge can score the winning goal against his former club!

[capriccioso 2,545]

I think we'll have to be a bit Napoli about all this and try and hit them on the break. For that reason Sturridge's got to play, regardless of his recent ordinary form, he's probably the fastest attacker we've got.

It would be interesting if we played Sturridge as the striker and Torres on the wing. He's been craving for that role all season. Anyway if all goes wrong we can always throw on Kalou to score one of his trademark tap ins

[Blue Armour 4,289]

Di Matteo: Drogba and Torres can work (Source:http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/12/03/20/SOCCER_Chelsea_Di_Matteo.html&TEAMHD=soccer&BID=165)

Roberto Di Matteo has revealed he would consider changing Chelsea's formation to partner Didier Drogba with Fernando Torres.

Torres has given Di Matteo a selection headache for Wednesday's Barclays Premier League game at Manchester City after finally breaking his long goalscoring drought in Sunday's FA Cup thrashing of Leicester.

Drogba is still expected to get the nod at the Etihad Stadium but caretaker-manager Di Matteo has not ruled out pairing Torres with the Ivorian in future.

The duo failed to perform in tandem under Carlo Ancelotti last season, while Andre Villas-Boas did not even try to do so, always preferring to start with a lone striker.

But Di Matteo was adamant Drogba and Torres could play together.

Asked if he would change the system to accommodate both, he said: "If the game requires it, yes.

"We tried it in the Napoli game."

Di Matteo, whose four games in charge have seen him use a 4-2-3-1 formation, welcomed Wednesday's selection dilemma.

"It's great for this football club, isn't it?" he said.

"To have that firepower in the team, it's fantastic. And we will try to do our best to try to exploit the good form of both.

"It's going to be tough on anybody I leave out.

"We have a fantastic squad and it hurts to leave players out of that calibre. It's really difficult.

"I can only field 11 positions and the ones on the bench."

Daniel Sturridge also covets the centre-forward role at Chelsea and appeared reluctant to pass to Torres from his position out on the wing on Sunday.

Di Matteo said: "I wouldn't think it's difficult to play for the team.

"Every player has to put his individual qualities within the team for the benefit of the team."

He added: "We forget that he's a very young player, a very young man, and really this is his first full season with his club.

"He's still developing if you think about it for his age and how many games he's played.

"There is certainly some incredible talent that you can improve and he can make the team help and win more games.

"I think he could play down the centre.

"He has the ability to play in both positions."

Meanwhile, Di Matteo is confident captain John Terry will be fit for the rest of Chelsea's nightmare schedule of matches after ruling him out of Wednesday game.

Terry has been struggling with a calf strain since his second outing after his remarkable comeback from knee surgery.

Di Matteo said: "He did very well to come back from his operation and he's then played two games in a very short period of time, very intense games as well.

"He's fine for Saturday."

[Kieran. 6,317]

Di Matteo: Drogba and Torres can work (Source:http://www.sportingl...=soccer&BID=165)

Interesting.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Why do we always play on Thursday mornings (Australian time)

I'm in the same boat as I was for the Napoli game, but this time I think I will be going to uni.

[Swedish House Mafia 508]

I hate to say it, but it's time we gave something back to United. They beat Spurs twice, Arse twice and Liverpool once, which helps us in our quest to the Champions League.

[Jase 43,479]

I hate to say it, but it's time we gave something back to United. They beat Spurs twice, Arse twice and Liverpool once, which helps us in our quest to the Champions League.

Lol. TBF, we have already helped them by beating City in the reverse fixture. They may have beat the rest for us but we did not help our own cause by failing to win against lesser sides!

[capriccioso 2,545]

I hate to say it, but it's time we gave something back to United. They beat Spurs twice, Arse twice and Liverpool once, which helps us in our quest to the Champions League.

I disagree. City winning the league would be a better outcome for us. For one thing, we won't have to worry about Jose going there, and hopefully the Sheikh gets ''Romanitis'' and decides that the squad needs no improvement at all since they've already won some trophies.

[St Abramovich 175]

Doesn't matter to us who wins the league, we need the points for 4th place so there is no way a loss is a good thing.

[Strike 7,217]

Why do we always play on Thursday mornings (Australian time)

I'm in the same boat as I was for the Napoli game, but this time I think I will be going to uni.

Atleast u hav it late morning......i have it at 2am in the morning and the whole fuckin day is ruined by a blindin headache whenever i watch the 8pm GMT game.....but stil worth it

[Ollie 4,400]

Must suck missing Chelsea for Uni or school.... seems unthinkable me watching Chelsea in a league match on a Thursday morning lol.

[Strike 7,217]

Must suck missing Chelsea for Uni or school.... seems unthinkable me watching Chelsea in a league match on a Thursday morning lol.

It gets worse..a twat of a broadcasting company bought the rights of the FA cup from ESPN last year and they show only 1 match per round! Hilarious...Haven't watched a proper Chelsea FA Cup match since Everton away last season......