Closed Man City v Chelsea

[Barbara 15,149]

‘Normally if you want to rotate or give a chance to other players you don’t do that in big matches,’ Jose explained. ‘You try to be as stable as possible and play with the players who have stability in the team. If everything goes well I’ll start today with Cahill and Terry, I won’t start with Zouma for the first time.’

That puts an end to all the expectations of change in the back 5.

you took his words out of context, Chou.

I'm not saying he'll change, but he's talking about 'giving chances to other players you don't do'. He's talking about Zouma, Salah, Ake, etc...

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Luís started ahead of Azpili - because Luís isn't a player who he's going to give chances, Luís is a player he bought for a considerable amount of money and who was a machine against Schalke.

I've never agreed with the idea some here had that he'd move Cahill to the bench... he won't, but I don't think playing Luís would be far fetched... So I don't think our back 5 is as unchangeable as you believe, at least based on these words.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Is Costa playing?

[iseah100 5,612]

Is Costa playing?

Yes

[Andersonola 0]

My First post... I will like to see Chelsea line up against Man City today like this: Courtois, Ivanovic JT CAHILL Azpi, Matic Fabregas Mikel, Costa Hazard Oscar... Ramiress still havent improve in his tackling, he will cost Chelsea loads of fouls against us..... Ramires Passes are also always not composed.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Man City XI: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala, Kolarov; Fernandinho, Toure; Silva, Milner, Aguero, Dzeko.

Let's hope costa deals with malanga

[Polo7 3,496]

Chelsea FC ‏@chelseafc 8s

Chelsea line-up v Man C: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry ©, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Willian, Fabregas, Hazard; Diego Costa. #CFC

Perfect!

[Billy. 2,742]

Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Willian, Fabregas, Hazard; Costa.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Very strong line ups from both sides.

[LAM09 6,744]

Good lineup par Willian. Great to see Costa is starting.

[didierforever 7,349]

perfect line up/

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Solid!!!

There are goals in this match, be prepared :CFC:

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Only one defender on the subs bench, looks like Jose going for broke.

[Barbara 15,149]

I reckon we'll play 4-3-3 and not 4-2-3-1 as showed. It's the team I was going with, except Luís for Azpili.

[Pizy 18,368]

Haven't been this nervous prior to a game for a while.

We can set a serious tone for the rest of the season and make it extremely difficult for our rivals. They'd be under huge pressure this early in the season. If we win this we may see City dial it back a bit in the league and go all out in prioritizing the Champions League.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Basically strongest team possible from both teams, should be a good game. We need to keep it tie, but not parking the bus fully. We can so this, KTBFFH!!!!!

[Mechromancer 262]

-----------------Courtois---------------

Iva-------Cahill---Terry--------Dave

Willian--Matic--Ramires--Hazard

----------------Fàbregas--------------

------------------Costa-----------------

The Wall.

[Barbara 15,149]

Only one defender on the subs bench, looks like Jose going for broke.

I've noticed that, but for some reason my brain registered 'Jose always packing his team with attackers playing at home'. Then you posted this and I realized that for a moment I had a lapse and thought we were playing home, but we're actually playing away.

Luís is very versatile. He can play LB, CB and DM, he offers us a lot of options in the defensive side if things go our way and we need to defend a lead. And then there's always Mikel. But he has two AMs and two STs in the bench. He wants the win.

[Azul 1,615]

Perfect squads from both sides.