Man City vs Chelsea

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Man City vs Chelsea

05 December 2009, EPL, Eastlands, 1730 KO

Chelsea head to the blue half of Manchester to face Mark Hughes' City side.

Match chat here.

[Blueboy 14]

Let's crush them with 6-0 again . Hope we can show them that they have nothing to look for in the top-4 of PL!

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

For some reason I predict a draw with them (that would 8 in a row for city), its the only thing that club can do at the moment.

[Term-X 7,891]

i can see only a win for either side against arsenal, but this one I'm not sure.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

Duno about this one a bit hmm,but they do seem to be on a run of draws so hopfully we can change it and throw a loss instead

We play like today then hopfully we can do the job

[BlueLion. 21,491]

We'll end their run of draws with another victory!

[Ray. 217]

We need another win here. Hopefully we will crush them with 3-0 or more. I don't think I can stand a draw.

[northernblue 2]

It's important to get Wednesday out of our system quickly and a win at City would do the trick! The squad are confident according to Carvalho in this football blog so I reckon we can get a result. It will be tougher though after City's result against Arsenal, will give them a massive confidence boost.

Think we can nick it though, 2-1 to us.

[javiblue 0]

c´mon mighty blues! this premier is ours! UP THE MIGHTY BLUES!

[caesarblues 51]

the key players will be back, i think we're gonna crash them... dejavu maybe...3 - 1 :eyebrows: ,,,,

[Ray. 217]

Expected lineup as follows (4-1-2-1-2 formation) - source - guardian.co.uk

Cech

Carvalho

Terry

A Cole

Ivanovich

Mikel

Malouda

Essien

Lampard

Anelka

Drogba

Subs from Hilário, Turnbull, Ferreira, Zhirkov, Bruma, Borini, J Cole, Belletti, Matic, Ballack, Deco, Kakuta

Doubtful A Cole (thigh)

Injured Hutchinson (groin, 20 Dec), Sturridge (knee, 20 Dec), Alex (groin, Jan), Kalou (thigh, Jan), Bosingwa (knee, Feb)

Suspended None

Form guide WWWWWL

Disciplinary record Y16 R1

Leading scorer Drogba 11

Match pointers

• Chelsea have won 10 of their 12 visits to Manchester City in the Premier League

• Only City (15 yellow, one red) have picked up fewer cards than Chelsea (16 yellow, one red) this season

• Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in 12 of their last 14 league meetings with City

• If this match ends in a stalemate, City will set a new record for consecutive draws in the top division of English football (eight)

• Chelsea have played eight hours and eight minutes of league football since they last conceded a goal

[bombayblue™ 55]

I see 3 points albeit not a clean sheet.. :blue scalf:

COME ON Chelsea!!

Edited December 5, 2009 by bombayblue™

[Ollie 4,400]

Really confident about this, their pitch and the way they play really suits us i feel. Last year our best performance was there after going 1-0 down, i see threats but i feel our threat is much greater. I would be surprised if we don't win this game, just seems a great match for us right now.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

The perfect opportunity to get Wednesnday's result out of the system. With his team selection on Wednesday you could see he was clearly prioritising this game, so the players have to respond tonight. The way City have been playing would make us favourites to win, but in front of their home crowd they're as good as anyone else in the division. The first goal is very important. If we get it, it'll truly knock the stuffing out of them. If they get it, then we're going to need to step up and put in a shift. Anelka will be key for us today; he's been sensational recently and its highly likely that he'll be granted more space than usual as the defence focus on Didier "Fifteen Goals Already This Season" Drogba. Whoever plays in the attacking midfield role at the tip of the diamond needs to step up their game as well; neither Joe Cole or Deco covered themselves in glory in midweek.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

TEAM NEWS

Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips faces a fitness test after picking up an ankle knock against Arsenal.

Craig Bellamy and Stephen Ireland are rated as extremely doubful with knee injuries and Vladimir Weiss has been laid low by tonsillitis.

Salomon Kalou joins Jose Bosingwa and Alex on Chelsea's injury list after the forward suffered a thigh strain against Blackburn in the Carling Cup.

Those injuries aside, Carlo Ancelotti has a fully-fit squad.

Man City

Suspended: None Doubtful: Bellamy, Ireland & Petrov (all knee), Weiss (tonsillitis), Wright-Phillips (ankle)

Injured: None

Chelsea

Suspended: None Doubtful: None

Injured: Alex (hip), Bosingwa (knee), Kalou (thigh)

And what a shit stat this is:

Chelsea have conceded the highest percentage of goals from set plays this season (75%) and 50% of the goals they have conceded have been headers - the highest percentage in the top flight.

Maybe because we've only let in 8 goals?

[i_hate_iniesta 0]

anyone have a good working link that will be up for this game?

[Shane 2,275]

City: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, De Jong, Barry, SWP, Tevez, Robinho, Adebayor

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Carvalho, Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Deco, Drogba, Anelka

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

I've just bought a new Chelsea shirt, lets start of this £35 purchase with a one sided win.