CHELSEA VS LEICESTER CITY - PREVIEW

CHELSEA VS LEICESTER CITY PREVIEW

BIG GAME AHEAD...

Preview

This Sunday will rule to be an important one for Frank Lampard as his first home game as manager will be an exciting but difficult fixture.

Chelsea were torn apart against Man United last weekend and yet still showed signs of positive play but despite losing to penalties against Liverpool in their mid week clash, it was more of a moral victory for the blues by taking the European Champions the whole 9 yards.

Big Game Ahead...

In my opinion, Chelsea need a win this Sunday. Lots of people believe that Leicester are contenders for pushing the top 6 all the way this season with an exciting, quick and counter attacking squad along side Wolves and a defeat Sunday would only strengthen those arguments. Anything but a win for Chelsea will be disappointing for us. We need to get points on the board and show that we can match with the other top 6 competitors.

As tough as Leicester may be I believe we'll get the win this weekend - I think with Frank Lampard coming back to manage his first home game, the crowd will be buzzing for the all-time Chelsea record goalscorer. The support when Chelsea played Derby was monumental and no other I had experienced as a Chelsea fan. Lampard and Jody Morris' names were echoed from start to finish in that fixture with the crowd even waiting behind for a lap of honor from the ex- Chelsea pair after the final whistle. God knows how the crowd will react now he's our actual manager!

Mentally for the players it'll be important and will be itching for their first win. The reaction after Old Trafford in Istanbul was fantastic, we looked quick on the ball, Kante was a major difference between those games and by the full 120 minutes we were by far the better side on the night.

The players reaction after the 4-0 defeat was so good I just wonder what the reaction will be after we went toe-to-toe with a team that only lost once during a 38 game season.


Squad Chat 

We have a strong squad too choose from especially now Willian coming back from injury and also giving Frank food for thought with Mount, Kovacic, Pedro, Barkley, Jorginho and Pulisic all looking to get their name on the team sheet.

I am hoping Pulisic (or Pulassist) will get his first Premier League start after how well he played midweek- I think his pace and his ability to take on players plus his passing range will be vital to getting the three points.

I also feel that Frank will opt to choose Tammy Abraham over Olivier Giroud despite him scoring on Wednesday. I think Tammy gives us more energy as Lamps prefers to play with a high energy pace and it would also give Abraham a chance to hush the so called "supporters" who dashed out racial abuse to him after his penalty miss against Liverpool.

My starting XI predictions: Kepa, Azpiliqueta, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson, Kovacic, Kante, Jorginho, Pulisic, Pedro and Abraham.

I felt Zouma was more at ease against Liverpool, the midfield three showed their class from start to finish with Azpiliqueta and Pedro making up for their horrific performances last weekend in the Super Cup Final.

End Result predictions...

Fans will be seeing a familiar face in the tunnel this weekend with ex- Chelsea coach Brendan Rogers returning to the Bridge.

Rogers is yet to beat The Blues as a manager but Chelsea too are yet to score against Leicester in their last three head-to-heads so positives and negatives for both sides.

We failed to beat The Foxes at all last season with a horrific home loss performance. Jamie Vardy did what Jamie Vardy does best by scoring against a top 6 side in a 1-0 defeat.

I think Leicester will play similar to how they played last year by sitting back and waiting for a Chelsea mistake to counter with their quick attack force of Grey, Perez and Vardy.

Even though we may not have Eden Hazard in our ranks to break these type of teams down, I feel we have more than enough quality to get the win. 3-1 Chelsea.


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