Very interested to see Rodriguez up front on his own, his overall game has developed so much from last season, and lets hope his lone striking game has developed just as much - I felt he looked poor up front on his own last season, but am strangely optimistic for this season.
Looks like Lambert is probably being rested for this one. Need him fit for the more winnable games with Osvaldo likely to get his 3 game ban.
That is a tasty line up! I hope gaston has a good game today. Would still love gaston to come good and play his way into the team.
Pochettino going with mobility too. JC, MS and SD will all work hard and pack the middle. Hit Chelsea with GR, AL and JR with Rickie as an impact. Makes sense.
CHELSEA: Cech; Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Cole; Mikel, Ramires; Schurrle, Mata, Hazard; Torres. BENCH: Schwarzer, Kalas, Essien, Oscar, Willian, Ba, Eto'o.
Saints must feel that they have grounds for appeal or they would have taken the hit whilst he was off unfit...may come back to bite us as he would have served all or part of his suspension by now.
Mauricio is trying things out as we've had mixed results lately...playing okay but not getting enough points. He will go for 2 up front in the secondhalf, hoping our superfit players can make it count. First task..0.0 at half-time or even 1 up.
Did say that I'd be tempted to start Jay up top with three attacking mids, so if this goes wrong it's all my fault.