Stoke v Chelsea - Who should start this one for Chelsea?

Chelsea take on Stoke tomorrow and after another home defeat to Swansea the other day, Chelsea look like they will be pleased to get on their travels and away from the hostile and “toxic” atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, if you are to believe some parts of the press.

For Rafa Benitez and the players, it’s a chance to refocus on the Premier League, but this is no easy game and if we are to have any chance of taking three points, we need to be somewhere near to or at our best to do so.

So who should start for Chelsea tomorrow? As we have seen in the press, John Terry made his playing comeback for the Under 21′s yesterday. He played 45 minutes as planned with no reaction to the knee problem that has kept him out for 16 games. Tomorrow is too soon for him in my opinion (even though we need him back as soon as possible), so we cannot count on him.

It looks like Petr Cech will still be missing so Ross Turnbull will continue in goal but apart from that, every single place is up for grabs and it will be interesting to see if Benitez can get the better of Tony Pulis tactically before AND during the game.

We all know how Stoke will set up and how they intend to play. They work hard, make life difficult for you to break them down and then look to counter attack you.

I would like Benitez to make two changes from the starting eleven against Swansea with Torres and Oscar demoted to the bench.

It’s important that Rafa Benitez starts with Marko Marin. It was obvious the other night that we miss Victor Moses and his direct approach and playing Oscar there simply didn’t work. It’s my view that we cannot afford to put Ramires out wide tomorrow so that leaves us with the option of Marin who is more than capable to fill in that role while Moses is away.

Eden Hazard and Juan Mata to continue alongside Marin and Luiz and Ramires in the holding role once again.

Demba Ba should come in and replace Torres for two reasons. Firstly because of Stoke’s physical approach to the game throughout their side. We need him to hold the ball up, make life difficult for Shawcross and Huth and to have a physical presence up there. Secondly, as I posted yesterday, Torres looks disinterested and gave me the opposite reaction to the one I wanted to Ba’s arrival in midweek.

So my starting eleven tomorrow is as follows:

Turnbull, Azpiliceuta, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole (C), Ramires, Luiz, Hazard, Mata, Marin, Ba.

What do you people think?

Carefree & KTBFFH!