Closed Sunderland v Chelsea

[iceboy 992]

150th Chelsea start for Ramires tonight.

[haranr 485]

Why not Mikel instead of Lampard!!!!!

[DYC. 7,542]

Old joke.

And here I was thinking I was being original.

No, he just watched him play absolute shit for weeks in a row.

Fair enough. Thought he'd get a chance again by now, feels like ages since I have last seen him. Would also be good to a have left-footed player in that position again imo, much better for build-up play.

[NishC300 1,865]

Confusing lineup. Mixed feelings. Not going to complain though. Let's see how it plays out!

[Jype 6,398]

150th Chelsea start for Ramires tonight.

Wow. Time flies...

[quickpassnmove 924]

crossing my fingers that Chelsea finally begin playing some good midfielders aside from Ramires before his knee cartilage runs down to the bone.

[xPetrCechx 13,548]

Why not Mikel instead of Lampard!!!!!

Because we need to attack and score.

[mac.bo 48]

Hope this team selection dosnt come back to haunt Jose again ffs

[Pizy 17,861]

As always, would've gone with Mikel over Lamps. Other than that, sexy team.

Should be able to do the business, but I have a feeling we'll make this as hard for ourselves as possible like we always seem to do against bad teams.

[didierforever 7,349]

good team. expected except for mikel for lamps and schurlle for hazard.

[didierforever 7,349]

any streams?

[yuvala 2,167]

Mikel over Lamps for me, but other than that great line-up IMO.

Looking forward to seeing what Mata can do with Willian.

[iceboy 992]

Chelsea FC ‏@chelseafc32s

Lampard, speaking pre-game: 'We're striving to put together a run of wins. We need to carry on from our last two league games.' #CFC

[iceboy 992]

Good line up and stop complain Mikel over Lampard bla bla please.

[Jype 6,398]

Why not Mikel instead of Lampard!!!!!

Because we need to attack and score.

It's not as simple as Lampard = attack and Mikel = defend.

With Mikel in the team, there is more stability in midfield. Ramires and also the attacking midfielders have much more freedom knowing they always have at least one player to cover for them if they lose the ball but with the Lampard - Ramires pivot there's a lot of confusion on who stays back which often means the players get too cautious with the ball, resulting in dire attacking play. And of course the other alternative is shocking defensive play if both Lampard and Ramires bomb forward and the opponent gets a quick counter-attack.

[Billy. 2,739]

stream?

[Clevemayer 764]

pretty good but would've fielded de Bruyne and not Lamps.... yet again...

[Namika 922]

18 - Jose Mourinho has never lost a @PremierLeague match in the month of December (P18 W14 D4). Festive.