Stoke – Match Preview

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Venue

Chelsea travel to Stoke to face to face Mark Hughes’ Potters at the Britania Stadium in the 15th round of the English Premiere League on Saturday, December 7th at 15:00 UK time.

About The Game

The Blues will be looking to continue their good run in the league and make it 4 consecutive wins and 3 consecutive away wins in a row for the first time in 2013. The game can prove particularly important as Arsenal will be hosting Everton the next day.

The last time Chelsea traveled to the Britania Stadium, Jonathan Walters was the unlikely here when he scored two own goals before Hazard sealed a 4-0 win with a long range rocket. And Chelsea will be looking for Eden for inspiration again on Saturday after he put in one of the performances of the season on Wednesday and singlehandedly destroyed the Black Cats defenses.

If Eden was the positive on Wednesday, the downside to that win at Sunderland was the three goals that Chelsea conceded from set pieces. Despite that all three were due to individual mistakes rather than collective marking issues, Jose Mourinho will know that his team cannot afford to be making those mistakes, especially against a side like Stoke who are renowned for their aerial abilities.

About The Opposition

Just three days after getting a vital but nervy 4-3 win against Gus Poyet’s Sunderland, the Blues will be facing a side managed by another ex-blue: Mark Hughes. Sparky, who spent 3 seasons at the Bridge scoring 25 goals in 98 matches, took on mission impossible this season of trying to get Stoke, a side known for their reliance on long balls and set pieces under his countryman Tony Pulis, to actually play some modern football. And while both the team and the manager received a lot of praise early on in the season for the new adopted style, the goals have recently dried up and Hughes and his passing style of football has come under a lot of criticism.

In a weird-funny coincidence, Stoke are currently sitting 14th in the league with 14 points from 14 matches. And despite their poor away form, The Potters are still one of the toughest team to beat at home. Only Manchester City have conceded less goals at home than Stoke City’s 3. So the affair on Saturday might very well end up a cagey 1-0 win for either side.

Key Players

This hasn’t been a season of great individual performances from Stoke, but one man who has really stood out was goal keeper Asmir Begovic. The Bosnian has been in fantastic form for the Potters between the sticks and has singlehandedly kept them in many games this season. The most influential outfield player for Stoke, however, has arguably been Steven N’Zonzi. The Frenchman has been the dictator of play in the team and usually has the most touches and passes among his teammates. Jose might want to consider applying the same tactics he did against Sunderland’s Ki by playing Willian centrally to press and man mark him, especially if Hughes opts to play the 4-1-4-1 he used against Cardiff (not that that worked too well).

Team News

Jose Mourinho confirmed in his PC on Friday that Samuel Eto’o will be back for this match while Luiz is still out with that knee injury. Oscar who missed the Sunderland game faces a late fitness test.

On the other hand, Stoke will be missing ex-Blue Robert Huth for the rest of the calendar year, while Pieters faces a late fitness test according to Physioroom.

Expected Lineups

Both managers have made lots of changes in both personnel and formations lately, so…erm…I’ll leave the “Expected Lineups” to you.

Stats and Facts provided by StatsZone:

-Stoke City have scored just three goals in 10 Barclays Premier League games against Chelsea, failing to net in the last four in a row.

-Chelsea have won 10 and lost none of the last 12 meetings with the Potters in all competitions.

-Chelsea inflicted Stoke’s heaviest ever Premier League defeat - 0-7 in April 2010.

-The Blues also inflicted Mark Hughes’ heaviest ever Premier League defeat as a coach, with a 1-6 result when he was at QPR in April 2012.

-Hughes has enjoyed just two wins and endured 10 defeats in his 15 matches as an opposition coach against his former club Chelsea.

-Demba Ba has scored four Premier League goals against Stoke; only against West Brom (6) has he been more prolific.

-In this fixture last season, Jonathan Walters scored two own goals and missed a penalty in a 0-4 defeat.

-Chelsea will attempt to score 3+ goals in three successive Premier League away games for the first time since August 2009 and only the third time in the competition.

-Eden Hazard has scored three and assisted two more in his last four Premier League games.

-Frank Lampard (145) and John Terry (34) are the only current Chelsea players to have scored more goals for the club in the Premier League than Stoke boss Mark Hughes (25).

Match Odds

According to SkyBet: Stoke win 5/1 Draw 16/5 Chelsea win 8/15

Coverage

UK: BBC One

US: NBC Sports

India: Start Sports

Middle East: This game will NOT be available live on Al Jazeera.

You can see if/where the game is available in your country here.

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