Blues through to Quarters of league cup after unconvincing win

Chelsea are through to the Quarter finals of the League Cup after an unconvincing 5-4 victory against Manchester United. The fact that the Blues needed almost a full strength team to achieve the victory against a young United side is a worry for the Blues, but it was enough to avoid a 3rd straight loss.Chelsea started with Piazon,Moses and Mata in the attacking midfield ,with Sturridge starting as the lone front man in the absence of Torres. There were starts for Cesar Azpilicueta and Bertrand at the wing backs and for Romeu in the central midfield. In an uninspiring performance, Chelsea went behind 3 times and needed a last minute penalty from Hazard to take the match to extra time. Chelsea will face Leeds United away in the next round.

Chelsea Team for the match: Cech,Azpilicueta,Cahill,Luiz,Bertrand,Romeu,Mikel,Moses,Mata,Piazon,Sturridge
Subs- Ramires for Mikel(h/t),Hazard for Piazon(55'),Oscar for Romeu(71')

Chelsea    5             Manchester United   4
                                         Giggs  22'
Luiz(p)   31'
                                         Hernandez  43'
Cahill      52'
                                         Nani   59'
Hazard(p)  90'+4
Sturridge    97'
Ramires      116'
                                          Giggs(p)  120' 

Chelsea vs Manchester United- Capital One Cup- Preview

Competition : Capital One Cup
Opponent: Manchester United
Venue: Stamford Bridge




After the stormy affair at the Bridge where the referee's poor decisions cost us the game, Chelsea and United go head to head again, this time in the league cup. With a new race row also added to an already ridiculous performance on Sunday, Mark Clattenburg will really find it hard to justify his actions and words. Thats another story and I am not really interested in discussing any aspects of the game that I certainly thought we were robbed in.

The league cup gives an opportunity for the manager to try out his fringe players and RDM should use it to give some much needed experience to some of the players on the fringes of the first team. Suspensions to Ivanovic and Torres means that they will definitely not start the game. Terry continues his suspension while Lampard is still injured. The likes of Mata,Oscar and Hazard have toiled hard without rest for a number of weeks now,and they carry a risk of burn out. As such RDM should choose a fresh team for Wednesday's match. Marko Marin might get his first start for the Blues. This is the team I would like to see on Wednesday.

Turnbull

Cahill                           Luiz

Azpilicueta                                                                       Bertrand

Ramires                  Romeu

Moses                                        Piazon                                    Marin

         Sturridge

Piazon deserves a chance in his preferred position as he looked good in the Capital One clash against Wolves. Moses and Marin are best suited for the flanks and should give us plenty of pace along with Ramires. Sturridge leads the line in the absence of Torres and will hope to impress RDM in the lone striker role. 

Hopefully, this won't be marred by controversial decisions and the young team should give a good account of themselves.

Man of the match Clattenburg gives United victory

It was disappointment again for the Blues as Chelsea went down 2-3 to United at Stamford Bridge. It was yet another match which again saw an absolute appalling performance from the referee. United were 2-nil up by 12 minutes before a brilliant free kick from Mata followed by a Ramires header brought it to 2-2. Chelsea were dominating the second half, when Ivanovic was shown a straight red for denying a goal scoring opportunity for a foul on Ashley Young. Probably the right call. The second red was absolute rubbish. Torres was fouled by Evans, only for Torres' and Chelsea fans' horror to see that Clattenburg give him a second yellow. On wonders why such decisions go in favor of United in these big games. Yet United needed an offside goal to win against 9 man Chelsea.
It was a wonderful match until it was destroyed by the morons officiating the match. The two suspensions means that Chelsea have a lot to worry in the coming matches

Chelsea vs Manchester United - Preview

Competition: EPL
Opponent: Manchester United
Venue: Stamford Bridge


Form(latest first)
Chelsea: LWWWW
Man United: WWWWL




In what promises to be yet another watering clash, Chelsea and Manchester United go head to head at the Bridge on Sunday. While the high flying Blues suffered a set back in the UCL in midweek, Manchester United once again demonstrated their ability to come back from adverse scenario, winning 3-2 against Braga after being 2-0 up.

The Reds are at second place in the league,four points behind us and scored the maximum number of goals(21) in the league. But they have also conceded 11 goals,which shows that the defense is leaky. Chelsea have scored 19 goals but have conceded only 6 goals. The Red Devils have not won at Chelsea in their last 10 meetings, a record which no other club in EPL has. Last year saw United making another comeback to draw at 3-3 with two penalties awarded by Howard Webb. But Chelsea are a completely different team from the team that went unbeaten at home for 10 games. With Van Persie and Ronney in their ranks, United are one of the most dangerous teams going forward and our defense have to be wary of them. Van Persie is among the most successful away players at the Bridge,scoring 5 times(all in his Arsenal days). Our defense have not conceded many goals, in fact we have the best defensive record along with Arsenal, but it has looked shaky at times.

United's worry will also be their defense with the team leaking goals at will in the continued absence of Nemanja Vidic. They will have a tough time negotiating the fantastic 3 of Chelsea- Mata,Hazard and Oscar.

RDM will not take any risk with his starting lineup though some of them really seem to be fatigued.

Cech

Cahill                            Luiz

Ivanovic                                                                      Cole

Ramires                  Mikel

Mata                                 Oscar                           Hazard

   Torres

Squad rotation is one area that RDM has been found wanting. With Marko Marin fit, we could probably see him coming on for one of the 3 attacking mid fielders as the game proceeds. Torres has been found wanting in the last couple of matches and would need to answer his critics by scoring in a match of such high profile.

United will probably be lining up in the below formation:

De Gea

Ferdinand                                 Evans

Rafael                                                                         Evra

Scholes                    Carrick

Valencia                   Ronney               Hernandez

Van Persie

The two teams will meet again at the same venue for the Capital one clash on Wednesday. The result of this game will obviously have an impact on the next match. The league may be just onto Game week 9, but 3 points here will give us a 7 point advantage against one of the contenders. 

The match promises so much and lets hope that its not ruined by any bad referring decisions. Can't wait to watch it.

Please leave your thoughts on the game.