Closed Chelsea v Man City

[Special Juan 28,141]

If players such as Ramires, Oscar and Hazard produce what we know they can we will beat them.

I'm not saying City are shite, I'm saying lets not count ourselves out we are looking very sharp and hard to beat.

[Pizy 18,914]

Absolutely NO WAY Lamps should start this one. Ramires & Mikel.

Is Kompany still injured? If not, he and Nastasic would probably devour Torres, so I don't know if he'd be the best option.

My XI:

----------------Eto'o----------------

---Hazard-----Oscar-----Mata---

------------Mikel-----Ramires-----------

Cole------Terry------Luiz------Ivanovic

----------------Cech----------------

Possibly Schürrle in place of Mata with Hazard on the right if we need a more physical approach. I'd take a draw in all honestly.

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

Absolutely NO WAY Lamps should start this one. Ramires & Mikel.

Is Kompany still injured? If not, he and Nastasic would probably devour Torres, so I don't know if he'd be the best option.

My XI:

----------------Eto'o----------------

---Hazard-----Oscar-----Mata---

------------Mikel-----Ramires-----------

Cole------Terry------Luiz------Ivanovic

----------------Cech----------------

Possibly Schürrle in place of Mata with Hazard on the right if we need a more physical approach. I'd take a draw in all honestly.

I'm glad many people agree with me on the Lampard playing in the pivot issue, especially against technical, strong and fast players, we were lucky not to concede in the first half yesterday, they were all over our centre of the park, let's hope it doen't happen against City as they are a lot more clinical than Schalke. I'd say 70% of the posters so far in this thread agree with me

[mac.bo 48]

We deffo have to do something about the midfield area or i fear the battle will be lost but in Jose i trust no surrender! I predict man.city a player or two sent off and Chelsea win a classico in our best performance of da season Torres man of the match , Mata gets on the scoresheet and Stamford Bridge is bouncing

[Jase 43,479]

Funnily enough if we beat City on Sunday, we would have won 6, drawn 2 and lost 1 and got 20 points and that was exactly the same tally we got to after 9 league games back in 2004/05 season under Mourinho.

[Wimbledonblue 94]

Tough game. Lets hope it is better than the absolute bore fest we witnessed last year. I'm confident though, 2 - 0 win.

[The_Flash 1,144]

City were lucky not to draw that game, perfectly good goal disallowed for Toure pretending his was so badly hurt.

I really would LOVE us to beat them on Sunday

Fingers crossed

[Waterfall 893]

Kompany will play: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/vincent-kompany-fit-manchester-citys-6233363#.UmguHKaDm89.twitter

[Sidzeret 2,257]

No way Mata should play with Toure in the midfield.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Kompany will play: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/vincent-kompany-fit-manchester-citys-6233363#.UmguHKaDm89.twitter

fuck that... i was hoping javi garcia will play at cb, he is a complete joke there.

tough game, they have really outplayed us in the last games and i think we will need more than one goal to win this one because they will surelly score... aguero is scoring for fun right now, negredo is playing well too, acting as a target man, yaya is in terrific form, but watching city playing away kinda makes me feel we will win this one... they might have the upper hand in the last six or seven games, but we have jose now!

[Amblève. 4,995]

Funnily enough if we beat City on Sunday, we would have won 6, drawn 2 and lost 1 and got 20 points and that was exactly the same tally we got to after 9 league games back in 2004/05 season under Mourinho.

Where's this so-called crisis?

[Rmpr 8,977]

Where's this so-called crisis?

How can you not see it? We played 9 games, anything bellow 9-0-0 is unacceptable!

[Tomo 21,751]

Hopefully we will get at them, City defensively aren't all that even with Kompany playing, and while Fernandinho and Toure can be devastating going forward, they aren't the best combination defensively.

Pellegrini doesn't strike me as the kind of manager that will play cautious and settle for a point, which could play right into our hands tactically.

It's going to be an awfully tough game, but this is as confident i have been regarding our chances against City since Mark Hughes was the manager at Eastlands.

Got a feeling this might be the game the trademark 1-0 to Mourinho returns, with Oscar getting the winner in the second half. Even at this stage of the season, beating City will be massive.

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

No way Mata should play with Toure in the midfield.

Why? Mata has made him look like a fool on multiple occasions

[The Skipper 20,609]

Have to set up as a counter attacking team IMO, we'd rip them to shreds. Delighted Hazard is finally showing form, him and Oscar must start behind Torres for this one. I'm more inclined to play Schurrle or Willian than Mata, but not sure who should start... out of the former two.

If Mikel starts then we should go for Willian as he is slightly better attacking wise. Mikel will also provide a more solid midfield especially when we're sitting back. The knock on effect for that would be to play Luiz who can start the counters off well and possibly deal with Aguero.

My team would probably be (I've got 2 versions):

Cech

Iva Luiz JT Cole

Mikel Ramires

Willian Oscar Hazard

Torres

Or...

Cech

Iva Cahill JT Cole

Lampard Ramires

Schurrle Oscar Hazard

Torres

I'm leaning towards the first selection slightly more though.

We can beat these if the game plan is executed properly. It's been too long overdue.

[Barbara 15,149]

Lampard is a big no for me, but I doubt Mourinho won't play him.

But in my bubble Frank won't play and then I look to the bench and options. Mikel for Lamps we gain the defensive aspect, but we completely lose the midfield with him... we're playing at home, we're a big team, we have a great squad there's no reason why we should submit to their midfielders and accept our role as defensive only. Yeah we need to be solid and try to stop Fernandinho and Toure, but let's not behave like we're scared little girls. Our turf, our rules and we bossing them!

I understand when Mourinho is cautious away, but it makes no sense for us to settle with defending at home.

The second option is Essien. The only problem I have with The Bison is that he has played only once this season and it may mean Toure and Fernandinho would eat him alive because of lack of match sharpness.

Then there's a third option, one I may like better. I'm 100% against transforming Luiz into a DM, but it could work here. His passing is good, he could alternate with Ramires about running, he has a powerful finishing from distance. So I'd make an exception this one time and I'd play him there. He'd add defensive toughness to what Lamps normally delivers, and I think he's the closer we have to Lamps with long distance shots, free kicks, decent passing, and he can add runs (although Rami does that too and if Luiz didn't, it wouldn't matter much).

I just hope I don't see Oscar in the pivot. That will always be a big no for me.

In the AM I'd play exactly what we played against Schalke if Schürrle is really fit. If he's not I'd play Mata. If this match was 2-3 months down the road, I'd play Willian-Oscar-Hazard, but I don't think Willian has match sharpness enough to face ManCity midfielders or FBs.

I'm not sure who to play in the ST position. Torres was a completely different guy against Totts and Schalke. Eto'o played well infiltrating behind Cardiff's defense, but that's Cardiff. If Ba wasn't so awful for us, I'd play him because of his physicality, but I don't even think about him. If I'm against the wall and have to pick one, I'd pick Torres.

Whatever José does, the only critical choice for me is not playing Lampard. He may have a great match, but there's also a big chance he won't. Totally not worth the risk.

[mac.bo 48]

In Jose i trust ... For me its Cm that imm weary that we are not strong enough against Toure&co , For some reason Toure seems to hate Mata so i hope he gets the chance to run rings round him again, I like the thought of Luiz in midfield so he can annoy Augero and give Toure something to think about apart from that we should have nothing else to fear , hopefully we will see Chelseas best performance of the season and a classico win for Cfc. Atmosphere will be great me thinks turn it up and lets get at them front the 1st whistle gu gu gu get some then get some more!

[didierforever 7,349]

people who are expecting lamps not to play and for mata to play, will be in for a BIG suprise,

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Massive game, can't wait actually. COYB !

[Peppen 934]

Cech

Ivan - Luiz - Terry - Cole (if fit)

Mikel - Ramires

Hazard - Oscar - Schürlle

Torres

Subs: Mata, Etoo, Ryan, Lamps, Cahill, Schwarzer, Willian

I think this is our strongest lineup at the moment. I do not feel confident about this game, but if we play our best, we certainly have a good shout in this game. Hoping for a fine Hazard display, and Andre's first BPL goal for Chelsea.

KTBFFH! :blue scalf: