Strongest Chelsea line-up to face Stoke City

After a breathtaking match against the Black cats which Chelsea eventually won thanks to the their impressive attacking trio Hazard, Willian and Mata, Jose Mourinho takes his men to visit the Premier League’s tough boys Stoke City at the Britannia stadium this Saturday. A seven goal thriller at the Stadium of lights ended in favour of the Blues which helped them to maintain pressure at the top of table with Arsenal who will face Everton this Sunday.

Yet another away match is sure to test Mourinho’s credibility, but with two away wins recently the Portuguese manager would be confident of getting a result against Stoke who have made it hard on themselves lately with a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Everton and a dragging goaless draw against Cardiff during the midweek game. Three crucial points away from home would prove to be a great deal for Chelsea ahead of the crucial festive period where games would come think and fast.

Stoke have been pretty decent at the Britannia stadium this season but against a side as strong as Chelsea are, if Mark Hughes and his men manage to pick up a point as they did against Cardiff City, it would give them a world of confidence as they would want to avoid the relegation scrape early in the season.

So with Mata, Hazard and Willian all performing excellently against Sunderland, would Mourinho stick to the same line-up? It is not an easy job predicting Jose Mourinho’s starting line-up, but if Oscar doesn’t recover on time, expect the same trio to start again.

Defence

It is still not clear whether Jose Mourinho would bring back Ashley Cole after the England International missed a few games and has found his place on the bench while his replacement Cesar Azpilicueta is doing a great job albeit playing on his weaker side. So probably, Azpilicueta would continue down the left while David Luiz’ injury means that Terry/Cahill partnership should continue at the back.

Cech on the goal, and Ivanovic on the right will complete the defensive line-up.

Midfield

As I said earlier, there are not many out there who can predict Chelsea’s midfield line-up. There is a chance that Mourinho might deploy John Obi Mikel since they face the physically dominant Stoke City, but with the Lampard/Ramires combination doing wonders, it should be the manager’s preferred choice given they play away from home.

Elsewhere even if Oscar does recover from his injury, Mata is the better choice give the luxury of having Willian and Schurrle to play on the left while Hazard can take up the right flank and constantly switch positions.

Forwards

Ba is having a run of decent games for the Blues. However, Torres would be Mourinho’s preferred option once again.