Match Preview: Derby County vs Chelsea

The Blues kick-off this season’s FA Cup with an away game at Derby County’s pride park on Sunday Afternoon. Jose Mourinho will likely field a youth side featuring some experienced players for the line-up to kick-off this campaign to regain the trophy we dominated in recent years. Let’s look at the details of this match-up in the latest preview.

Date & Time: Sunday January 5, 2014 9:15am (est) | at 2:15:00 PM (gmt) | at 6:15:00 PM (gst) | at 3:15:00 PM (wat) | at 1:15:00 AM (aedt) | at 6:45:00 PM (aft) | at 12:15:00 PM (brst)

Venue: Pride Park – the iPro Stadium, England

TV/Streaming news: Australia – ESPN Pacific Rim, ESPN Australia | Belgium – Sporting 1 | Canada – Sportsnet World | France – BeIN Sports 1 | UAE – Al Jazeera Sport +5, Al Jazeera Sport HD6, Al Jazeera Sport +10

Chelsea FC Squad news: Mourinho backed up the seriousness with which he takes the competition by confirming he will start the best possible team to try to win the game, aiming to keep the momentum going following our impressive recent performances in the Premier League. The manager also said that Ryan Bertrand is fit again after a knee problem, and only missed out on a place on the bench at St Mary’s because of Tomas Kalas’s versatility. Injured stars are Lampard, Ivanovic and Van Ginkel.

predicted starting 11: Schwarzer; Azpilicueta, Terry(c), Kalas, Cole; Luiz, Mikel; Schurrle, Mata, Willian; Eto’o 

Fun Trivia:

• Chelsea and Derby have been drawn against each other on four previous occasions in the FA Cup with honours even in terms of wins and losses.
• Chelsea youngster Patrick Bamford just days ago completed a loan move to Derby in the January transfer window
• Chelsea have played six times at Pride Park, all in the Premier League, winning three, drawing two and losing one.
• Derby have lost all six of their FA Cup encounters with Premier League sides over the last 16 years.
• After equalling Peter Bonetti’s 208 clean sheets at Southampton on New Year’s Day, Petr Cech now requires one clean sheet for the all-time club record.
• If selected, John Mikel Obi will make his 300th appearance for the club and become only the fourth overseas player to reach that milestone. Petr Cech, Didier Drogba and Gianfranco Zola are the others.

This match ends the grueling festive period schedules for Chelsea in which Jose Mourinho was satisfied with the results and our league standing after the festive period. The next match is set to be played next weekend against Hull City away and the players will have all week to prepare. Let’s hope for a great result!! KTBFFH