A midst the conundrum surrounding the transfer of Juan Mata to arch rivals Manchester United, Chelsea welcome Stoke City to SW6 in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.
DATE & TIME: 26th January, 2014 at 10:30 EDT, 26th January 2014 at 15:30 GMT, 26th January 2014 at 16:30 WAT, 26th January 2014 at 21:00 IST.
VENUE: Stamford Bridge, London, United Kingdom.
TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on ESPN Australia in Australia, Sportsnet World in Canada, Supersport 3 Africa in African continent, Star Sports 4/HD 2 in India, beIN Sports Arabia in UAE, ITV 1/HD in UK, Fox Sports 2 in USA.
CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: Marco van Ginkel and Fernando Torres are injured. Kevin de Bruyne, Michael Essien and Juan Mata are no longer a part of the Chelsea squad, securing moves elsewhere.
Predicted Starting XI: Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Azpilicueta, Matic, Ramires, Hazard, Willian, Schuerrle, Ba.
STOKE CITY SQUAD NEWS: Asmir Begovic, Robert Huth, Mathew Etherington and Andy Wilkinson will miss the game due to injuries.
Predicted Starting XI: Butland, Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters, N’Zonzi, Palacios, Walters, Ireland, Arnautovic, Guidetti.
REFEREE: Chris Foy.
FUN TRIVIA:
1. Chelsea are undefeated in 30 of their last 31 FA Cup matches.
2. Chelsea have won their last 6 home games against Stoke in all occasions.
The Blues have a terrific record against the Potters, especially at Stamford Bridge & barring an abysmal performance, are expected to comfortably stroll into the 4th round of the FA Cup.
since when is there 2 e’s in shurrle’s name?!
My starting lineup:
4-3-3
Schwarzer
Azpilicueta-Cahill-Luiz-Cole
Ramires-Matic-Lampard
Willian-Ba-Shurrle
Sub:
Hilario, Ivanovic, Terry, Mikel, Oscar, Hazard, Etoo
My starting lineup:
4-3-3
Schwarzer
Iva-Cahill-Luiz-Cole
Ramires-Matic-David
Willian-Ba-Shurrle
My starting lineup:
4-3-3
Schwarzer
Iva-Cahill-Luiz-Cole
Ramires-Matic-Lampard
Willian-Ba-Shurrle