Defending champions Chelsea travel to face Stoke City on Saturday, hoping to avoid a third consecutive Premier League defeat. The Potters have recently defeated Chelsea at the Britannia Stadium, that happened in the Capital One Cup last month. However, recent history does favour Chelsea as the Blues have lost just two of their last 18 meetings against Stoke. The last victory for Stoke against Chelsea was in 2013.
Stoke City needed seven Premier League matches to secure their first win of the season, that happened in September when they defeated Bournemouth 2-1. After that match Stoke went on a winning streak, with successes over Aston Villa and Swansea, but then Watford beat them 2-0. Last time out the Potters snatched a goalless draw at Newcastle, mostly thanks to goalkeeper Jack Butland. Stoke have already beaten Chelsea once this season, 5-4 after a penalty shoot-out in the League Cup. Geoff Cameron should make his return after recovering from a thigh injury.
Chelsea are no less than 14 points behind the current leaders of the Premier League table and are 15th in the league table after losing six of their last eleven games. They have conceded 21 goals so far, that's a huge amount considering that they have let in just 32 in the whole of last season. Last week they were defeated 3-1 at home by Liverpool, marking their worst start to a season since 1978. Some confidence was regained with a 2-1 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kiev this week, but the Blues needed an 83rd minute goal to secure the three points. Jose Mourinho will not be present at the match due to his one-match stadium ban. Thibaut Courtois and Radamel Falcao are unavailable through injury, but Pedro and Branislav Ivanovic are ready to return.
Probable line-ups:
Stoke City: Butland - Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters - Whelan, Adam - Shaqiri, Bojan, Cameron - Walters
Chelsea: Begovic - Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta - Matic, Fabregas - Willian, Oscar, Hazard - Costa
My prediction: Stoke City to win 1-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Stoke win - 3.80 Draw - 3.60 Chelsea win - 2.05
sharpe 8 years ago
Just recently Stoke City defeated Chelsea after penalties in the League Cup and now that win make a Chelsea season even more miserable. I can't say that this result was a some kind of surprise when we know how bad are Chelsea in the moment. The future looking uncertain for the club the manager and the fans, hopefully there...
Just recently Stoke City defeated Chelsea after penalties in the League Cup and now that win make a Chelsea season even more miserable. I can't say that this result was a some kind of surprise when we know how bad are Chelsea in the moment. The future looking uncertain for the club the manager and the fans, hopefully there will be find some solution to that.
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Shumar4life 8 years ago
Mourinho's position is under fire, after new defeat for his team. Despite support from the fans, and from the chairman, I believe that he will be fired in upcoming days. Chelsea is playing very bad, and they will need fresh new blood on the bench to recover themselves. It will be horrible for them to miss out Champions...
Mourinho's position is under fire, after new defeat for his team. Despite support from the fans, and from the chairman, I believe that he will be fired in upcoming days. Chelsea is playing very bad, and they will need fresh new blood on the bench to recover themselves. It will be horrible for them to miss out Champions league qualification spot
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Alexa Alexa 8 years ago
Well,we will see was this last match of Jose Mourinho at the bench of Chelsea.It is really hard to understand what is happening to the Blues this season.It is normal to fire the coach in this situation.Ifthe manager was not Mourinho,he would get fired before 5-6 matches.
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nik92 8 years ago
Last chance for Jose Mourinho, if he loses this match certainly he loses his job. They were eliminated from the Cup by today's opponents, and I think that's enough for Chelsea players for revenge. I look forward to Mourinho statement after the match, and Diego Costa to do something stupid again. :D
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h34dhunt3r 8 years ago
Another hard game for Blues from London is coming up. After their elimination versus todays opponent in a cup match last week, they are facing them today, this time even without their manager Jose Mourinho. Stoke, as we all know, is really strong at homefield. And Chelsea, after mid-week close win versus Dynamo Kyiv should...
Another hard game for Blues from London is coming up. After their elimination versus todays opponent in a cup match last week, they are facing them today, this time even without their manager Jose Mourinho. Stoke, as we all know, is really strong at homefield. And Chelsea, after mid-week close win versus Dynamo Kyiv should have been more motivated. I'm gonna place my bet that both teams score, dont trust Chelsea yet. 1:1 should be fair result after all.
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