I'm struggling to give a prediction because I genuinely don't know who's going to play... My team: Fabianski, Naughton, Fernandez, Williams, Kingsley, Cork, Fer, Gylfi, Montero, Barrow, Paloschi. Bench - Nordtfelt, Amat, Taylor, Britton, Ki, Routledge, Ayew. Prediction - 2-2 Likely team: Fabianski, Rangel, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Cork, Britton, Ayew, Gylfi, Routledge, Gomis. Bench - Nordtfelt, Amat, Naughton, Fer, Montero, Barrow, Paloschi. Prediction - 1-3 I have about 3 more team options and predictions too... Guidolin has his work cut out this week. But as long as he doesn't go with my "Likely team" and pick a diamond midfield, I'm happy that we're on the right track.
I think you're team is actually more likely than the more likely team . My biggest worry with you're line up is who will commit quality help to the defence from the midfield .Also , I can't imagine Routledge on the bench for this one .Either Barrow or Montero will start , who ever doesn't start will come on at 60 minutes or so .I think Guido's staff is getting him turning a bit ....good news IMO .
Yeah, I had Routledge in my other 3 teams that I mentioned. It's definitely 2 of Routledge, Montero and Barrow - any 2 is ok with me right now to be fair. Ayew should be bench cover for Paloschi in my view (or the other way around). Cork is capable of the holding game and providing cover - his best game for us this season was against Arsenal at the Emirates where he did it superbly. He is capable and needs to start displaying those capabilities more often than not. I like Cork's game a lot, so he needs to keep proving to fans that he's capable of being the new number 1 when he comes to holding midfield.
Hasn`t he got a reputation for fast attacking play back in Italy. I know we haven`t seen anything of that so far. His remit when he came here was to keep us up, now that has nearly been achieved perhaps we might get to see this side to his coaching. The next few games will be interesting, because if he carries on the way he has so far then I can only see him going away, to put it nicely. Let`s hope we start to see it against Chelsea and put them in the toaster.
Lawro predicts yet another defeat ..... "It is difficult to judge any team accurately when they play Aston Villa at the moment but Chelsea played with a bit of freedom in their 4-0 win at Villa Park last weekend. Swansea continue to edge towards safety but I think Chelsea will pick up some more points under Guus Hiddink - the announcement about Antonio Conte this week will not make any difference because everybody knew the Dutchman was temporary anyway. Lawro's prediction: 0-2"
They won't be confident playing us, matter of fact their run has to come to an end, and that will happen on Saturday..........
All i will say is Chelsea are a massive team with players of the calibre we can only dream about but how many times have we been in this situation before and won. We somehow raise our game when we play a big side and if they are to beat us then they will have to up their game also and if they don't we can beat them. The only problem i can see is what team and tactics will Guildo use.......I hope he will take plenty of advice from Curtis for this game..
If we can anything out of this I will be amazed. I just hope we go back to playing 2 wingers, I still think we will go cautious as that is Guidolins way, he will hope to nick a goal and then bring on 3 extra defenders to try and hang on. lets start with 2 wingers and occupy their fullbacks, then their wide players will also have to think about helping out defensively as with our current system they are free to do what they want. As long as we give this a go instead of just trying to hold on for a bore draw as per usual I will take what ever we get. In the past we have always had a right go at the so called big clubs and because of that we have picked up unexpected results as we have absolutely nothing to lose as no one thinks we can win. Guidolin, take your boring defensive glasses off and put the ones on that are in the lets have a go box.
Probable line up . Fab Naughton , Fernandez , Williams , Kingsley Routledge , Cork , Ki , Siggy , Montero ......................Paloschi . The players and manager will be relaxed knowing they are very close to being safe , hope the fans are too ..Win lose or draw from here , I expect to see the team gel into a good flow by seasons end with a lot of things learnt .
Roof where did you get that PROBABLE line up from, any inside information or just a guess mate. If he starts that wouldn't be to disappointed, not sure Ki will start, but then he hasn't been playing recently so maybe, Think I would prefer Fer. Is Ayew still injured then.
It's only probable to me , Ki needs to get back on track , he was playing good until the injury ....we haven't seen the best of Ki yet IMO . Britton needs rest .The staff will talk Guido into the Routs / Montero start to soothe the rank and file . Taylor will still sit due to his mouth .Kingsley needs to really be looked at so we can attend to in the summer . Rangel needs more than a rest , I would make this Naughton's last stand to make it his position . Paloschi will start most games the rest of the way . No need to press Ayew back into action at this point . A healthy Ayew is a valuable Ayew . I would prefer Fer farther ahead with no defensive responability .he loses heart trying to run a man down , whereas a guy like Britton picks up heart on the chase . We need another . " Chaser "
Chelsea expect to be with out, Costa, Terry, Hazard, Matic and Remy. for once this year lets go for it.
Hate to say it but I don't see us beating Chelsea, please prove me wrong boys. I know they are a lowly tenth but they've not lost in 15 games now, I think. What's good for us though is that they've drawn 11 games in total with 5 of those coming in the last ten games, so a draw looks more likely and a point would certainly taste sweet to me. My team ---------------------Fab--------------------- Naughton----Fernandez----Williams----Kingsley Routledge----Cork----Ki----Siggy----Ayew ---------------------Paloschi--------------------- Guidolin will probably start with Taylor, Fer and Gomis and with both Britton and Amat injured there is room for a little experiment on the bench if he feels so inclined
I think the single biggest thing we had going for us this season , freakishly , is how many injured teams we played this season when it was our turn to play them , with us having a basically healthy team . I also read an article where if every time the woodwork was hit counted as a goal , we would be in 11th with 41 points now .
With the right side I'd expect us to turn them over then. 2-1 win if he picks the right side. If he picks his usual, I'm going for a very dull, boring 0-0.
