Sunday 12 August 2012

Preview: Manchester City v Chelsea - A marker for the season?

This afternoon Chelsea travel to Villa Park to take on Manchester City in the Community Shield - the traditional curtain raiser for the new season.

Some people are saying that this game alone could show everyone where we are at compared to City and last season but I am not so sure.

For me, it's all about our performance today. Of course I want us to win the game but let's be honest, with the way we have been defending lately, I would be happy with a clean sheet and to win this on penalties (Remember the last time we had a penalty shoot out?).

The team selection will be interesting to see with the likes of Romeu, Bertrand, Sturridge and Juan Mata all back in contention after missing the nightmare at Brighton last week.

Could we see a signal of intent from RDM with his formation and team selection? Could we see Chelsea's 4-2-3-1 formation begin to take shape with the likes of Mata, Hazard, Ramires playing in behind Torres?.

What is interesting at the moment is that Chelsea have taken huge strides in the transfer market this summer and City haven't signed anyone! However, we all know the strength in depth City do have and they shouldn't be taken lightly today.

Chelsea have the players to beat City, the question is can they get the performance right at the back to give us a base to build on through the rest of the game?

My predicted starting eleven for Chelsea is:
Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry (C), Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Hazard, Mata, Ramires, Torres.

No comments:

Post a Comment