closed Chelsea v Leicester

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea vs Leicester
PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT



2015/16 Premier League Match 38
15th May, Sunday, 2016
Stamford Bridge
15:00 Kick Off (UK time)

[Eidur the Spider 4,515]

The ovation Ranieri will receive from both sides fans is going to be immense. 

[Blue Armour 4,442]

Congratulations on your win Leicester, but I sincerely hope we lay the smackdown on you this Sunday.

[Tomo 21,751]

I will settle for matching/bettering Stokes result.

Finishing in a double digit position will be humiliating, not that 9th would look great, but still.......

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Least lowest can go is 10th. Be nice to get 2nd home win under guss but who knows.finally coming to a end 

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

Guus Hiddink says it will be emotional being his final game in charge on Suinday. He says he has a lot of affection for Chelsea. #CFC

 

Guus reports that Diego Costa is out of Sunday's game due to his hamstring injury but Thibaut Courtois has trained and is okay. #CFC

Guus says with a rest and good training, Diego Costa could be fit for Spain in Euro 2016 but he cannot be sure. #CFC

 

Guus says he will not start any Academy players for the first time on Sunday. He says they have to make more steps up first. #CFC

Guus says Academy players training a lot with the first team are knocking on the door. He says that is when they make most progress. #CFC

[Captain Ahmed 528]

Pre-Match Briefing: Chelsea v Leicester City – part one

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NEWS FRI 13 MAY 2016

Nine months of Premier League action come to an end this Sunday. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton put the full stop on their season’s previews…

TALKING POINTS

Last season this fixture was the first of the new campaign at Stamford Bridge, and many wondered afterwards when Leicester might be back again over the ensuing years.

When this season’s schedule was published, even the Foxes could be forgiven for picturing themselves as eyewitnesses, rather than the team lifting the Premier League trophy. Now the deposed champions will form a guard of honour to hail their successors.

Leicester are only the sixth club to win the Premier League since its inception in 1992/93. Omitting the unique anomaly that was Sir Alex Ferguson, the last seven title wins were masterminded by managers in their first, second or third year at a club.

Claudio Ranieri, like his predecessor as winner, Jose Mourinho, is a coach who has returned to the Premier League after years abroad. So much for those hackneyed claims that longevity and continuity are essential for success in football. 

Key Stat

Chelsea require two more goals to reach a total of 5,000 in the top flight.

The home supporters on Sunday will warmly welcome the Italian and his players, including Chelsea old boys Andy King, Mark Schwarzer, and Robert Huth (who unfortunately is suspended).

King joined Chelsea in 1998 as a nine-year-old and was released in 2004. Five of his Under-12s team-mates back then are still playing league football: Jack Cork at Swansea, Liam Bridcutt at Leeds (on loan from Sunderland), Sam Hutchinson at Sheffield Wednesday, Shaun Cummings at Millwall, and Chris Hussey at Bury. 

By coincidence, Chelsea’s two most recent losses against Leicester City came about with Ranieri sitting in one of the dugouts. In February 2001 he was managing the Blues to defeat, and in December at the King Power he led Leicester to a 2-1 win.

The 64-year-old is the first manager in Chelsea history to leave the club and go on to win the league in this country. His time at Stamford Bridge began awkwardly, as the replacement for the popular Gianluca Vialli, then one of the most successful coaches in the Blues’ history. Ranieri was regularly subjected to chants of the former incumbent’s surname from the stands for months on end.

Ranieri’s quirky public persona is now hailed as charming; back in his Bridge days the media battered him for his lack of English and translated cliches. After asking what the word used to criticise his rotation policy meant, he described himself as the Tinker Man, and it was often used pejoratively against him. Nor did the military demands of his fitness coach at Harlington always impress the club’s many older players.

Still, Ranieri steered Chelsea to secure vital Champions League qualification in 2002/03, paving the way for Roman Abramovich’s arrival. The club then bought well and Chelsea finished runners-up in the Premier League and made the Champions League last four in 2003/04.

His highest and lowest points came within weeks of each other: the tearful victory at Highbury that made Chelsea London’s first Champions League semi-finalists; and the chaotic defeat to 10-man Monaco in the next round.

Ranieri’s summer departure and subsequent career defined him as European football’s ‘nearly man.’ The ridicule that greeted the Greece national side’s home loss to the lowly Faroe Islands last summer while in his care followed him initially to Leicester.

But he has returned to England a changed man. The playfulness at media conferences remains, but the Italian has ditched the rotation of personnel and formation (and his old fitness coach – Leicester have not suffered injuries), recruited smartly, as ever, and built solidly on the foundation left by the remarkable escapology of Nigel Pearson’s last few months in charge.

The hand has remained resolutely on the tiller since then. There has been no blow-up under pressure, no Quixotic use of players out of position as happened in the principality all those years ago.

This single triumph Ranieri has achieved in his career should inspire anyone who has laboured without reward for so long. And the lesson is: leopards can change their spots.

For what it’s worth, should Chelsea survive the opening exchanges on Sunday they will be the only team to have gone the whole season without conceding in the first 15 minutes of a Premier League match.  

Only three points this weekend, though, will guarantee Chelsea ninth position, unless Stoke fail to win. Supporters may scoff at the difference between there and 10th, but it is worth around £1.2m more in merit-place prize money to the club.

The Potters, a point behind and at home to West Ham, may expect an easier ride than was the fate of Manchester United’s team coach, although the Hammers did also throw everything at the FA Cup finalists on the pitch on Tuesday.

chelseafc.com

 

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

Supporters attending Stamford Bridge on Sunday should arrive early to see a special presentation to former #Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.

[Beigl 1,387]

Tomorrow our 2015/16 nightmare season is finally over.

[Amblève. 4,995]

You think they'll give us a Guard of Honor?

[the wes 7,212]

hope Tammy Abraham starts against Leicester 

[Topico 165]

2 hours ago, the wes said:

hope Tammy Abraham starts against Leicester 

Guus already said that he wont be starting.

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

Need all three points to avoid worst PL season of 50 points. Not much of a consultation but better than a loss and being the worst at 49 or a draw at 50 tying the worst.

Come on you Chelsea!!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Don't think I'll bother tuning in for this one. Hiddink said no academy players will start, meaning Mike-Matic to rage us to death coupled with finals this week.. I have better things to do with 90 minutes.

Hope club does something more special than a guard of honour for Ranieri. 

[Captain Ahmed 528]

Part two-Pre-Match Briefing: Chelsea v Leicester City 

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With the curtain ready to fall on the current campaign, club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton complete their look at Sunday’s game….

WE HAVE HISTORY
  Chelsea are seeking a sixth successive home win against the Foxes in all competitions.

Our record victory over Leicester at Stamford Bridge was registered on 8 October 1994 as manager Glenn Hoddle continued to spark a revolution in SW6. Fewer people than usual were there to witness the 4-0 win because the new North Stand was yet to open and there was a temporary stand at the Shed End.

The alarm went off for Hoddle’s counterpart Brian Little in the first few seconds, when one of the smallest men on the field, feisty striker John Spencer, was somehow first with his head to Dennis Wise’s cross and made it 1-0.

Within three minutes the lead had doubled. Attacking midfielder Gavin Peacock stooped to meet a flicked-on corner, again from Wise, and his diving header gave Kevin Poole no chance.

It was Peacock’s turn to provide in the second half, his shrewd ball through the middle into the area allowing Spencer to score without breaking his stride. David Rocastle played the leading role in Chelsea’s fourth and final goal, jinking down the right before delivering a tempting cross that Neil Shipperley gratefully dispatched.

The opening game of last season, 2014/15, started promisingly for the future champions, with a pair of goalscorers who would set alight the first half of the campaign.

Nigel Pearson’s side were lively opponents in the opening 45 minutes, and would have taken the lead through David Nugent or Riyad Mahrez but for decent saves from Thibaut Courtois.

The second half was a more one-sided affair. Oscar struck the inside of a post early on before Branislav Ivanovic tested Kasper Schmeichel, and it was the Serb who provided the breakthrough. Set cantering by a pass from Oscar, Ivanovic cut the ball back for striker Diego Costa to control and score from close range. That meant goals in both games to date for the new signing.    

A few minutes later Eden Hazard performed his trademark cut inside from the left to curl past Schmeichel. There was a warm welcome back for returning hero Didier Drogba, but it was Willian who went closest to improving the 2-0 scoreline, his long-distance screamer tipped over by the Foxes’ keeper.

chelseafc.com

 

[the wes 7,212]

I fancy 2-1 chelsea 

[bluephoenix 1,131]

We would think that Chelsea would at least end this disgraceful season on a high and we will be wrong again.

[Captain Ahmed 528]

Foxes-Blues

[Tomo 21,751]

Here's a stat, since 2006, their has only been one away win in seven for teams after they have secured the title.

Leicester players have probably been letting their hair down all week and hopefully we can take advantage of that like West Brom did with us this time last year.

[Green Lantern18 54]

I can definitely goals in this game because we cannot defend for shit at the moment. And in regards to Leicester City they have only kept 6 clean sheets away from home all season.