Chelsea host Schalke 04 at Stamford Bridge as the Blues look to put the demoralizing loss against Newcastle United behind them and escape the dreaded “November Curse”.
DATE & TIME: November 6, 2013 at 14:45 EDT; November 6, 2013 at 19:45 GMT; Novmeber 6, 2013 at 20:45 BST; November 6, 2013 at 20:45 WAT; November 6, 2013 at 21:45 CAT; November 6, 2013 at 22:45 EAT; November 7, 2013 at 01:15 IST.
VENUE: Stamford Bridge, London, United Kingdom.
TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on ESPN3 in Australia, Sky Sport 1/2/3/HD in Austria, SuperSport 6 in African sub-continent, Sportsnet World in Canada, Fox Sports 2 in Colombia, Al Jazeera Sport HD2 in Egypt, Sky Sport 1/1 HD/2/2 HD/3 in Germany, Ten Action in India, Sky Calcio 5 in Italy, Sukachan 5 in Japan, Sport 1 Live in Netherlands, C + Liga De Campeones 5/HD in Spain, Al Jazeera Sport HD2 in UAE, Sky Sports 2/HD in UK and Fox Soccer Plus in USA.
Chelsea TV will stream the audio of the game live. It is also available on Ten Sports Live in India & Indian sub-continent, Sky Go UK in UK and Fox Soccer 2 Go in USA.
CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: Marco van Ginkel(cruciate ligament), Fernando Torres(muscular injury) and Ryan Bertrand are unavailable for tomorrow’s game.
Predicted Staring XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Schuerrle, Oscar, Willian, Eto’o.
SCHALKE 04 SQUAD NEWS: Schalke are missing a number of their key first-team players due to injuries, namely, Klass-Jan Huntelaar, Chinedu Obasi. Jefferson Farfan is doubtful as well. Kyriakos Papadopoulos has returned to training & also played 90 minutes for Schalke’s reserves, but might not start.
Predicted Starting XI: Hildebrand, Uchida, Santana, Howedes, Fuchs, Aogo, Neustadter, Boateng, Meyer, Draxler, Slazai.
REFEREE: Svein Oddver Moen(Norway).
TACTICAL OVERVIEW: Schalke 04 play a 4-2-3-1 formation similar to the Blues. They line-up with two banks of four while on the defensive and mostly direct their counter through their wing-backs while transitioning to attack. As usual, Sherry has discussed Schalke’s formation & tactics in his scouting report. In absence of Huntelaar, Draxler has to be the player Chelsea has to look out for. Schalke’s primary attacking threat, Draxler’s abilities with the ball are well-renowned and Ivanovic must keep a check on the German. Schalke were undone by Chelsea’s counter-attacks time & again in Germany, so how they line up will be interesting to see.
FUN TRIVIA:.
- Chelsea’s overall record against Bundesliga opponents is W8 D4 L4.
- If Chelsea win their game against Schalke, it will be their 100th win in all UEFA competitions.
- The 3-0 loss to Chelsea on matchday three was Schalke’s worst at home in the UEFA Champions League.
IN A NUTSHELL: Chelsea will confirm their qualification to the knock-outs with a win. However, a loss might place the Blues in a precarious position with two matchdays to go. Chelsea have already lost at home in this season’s Champions League and Mourinho will prefer the boys bounce-back from the disappointing loss against Newcastle to put the rest of November on course.
Jose should try and give demba a start as torres is unavailable and keep eto’o for the restart just not to waist demba talent on the bench every game, I hope that chelsea will win……. Up chelsea!!!
Seconded Ba should start
I think the coach should give Kevin a chance in tomorrow’s game, he is a talent wasting on the bench. but at the end, i’ll still go with morinho cost he knows what is best for the team
The sooner we get rid of Demba Ba, the better.
I’m concerned about David Luiz. Something is going on with him. I follow his twitter account and he’s been leaving some strange messages lately.
pls jose dont select the team based on sentiments.demba 2 me should be in the bench,but let eto start.i prefer this line up.
ivanovic,terry,cahil,cole.
rami,mikel,
willian,oscar,schurlle
eto.
cech
ivanovic.terry,cahil,cole
rami,mikel
willian,oscar,schurle
eto.
Ba shd start ths game.if KDB starts.mikel wil b a gd selection.lampard shdnt start.
I don’t care if Turnbull starts. All i care is that Lamps shouldn’t start
that would be really difficult as Turnbull is not with us anymore
My probable lineup cech, iva,luiz,terry, ceaser,mikel,rami,mata,kdb,willian, eto/ba atleast a player like shouldn’t be starting games…
I dnt know what it takes when nov appears to chelsea ,do players av mind of losg ha bt hpe mourinho wil change thix dilema keep it oscar blue s tha coulor
Firstly, Jose plays Mata and Lampard out of position, Mata is better in the centre but he keeps playing Oscar in that position and it is very obvious that Oscar is not as creative as Mata. We saw Mata play the number 10 position to perfection against Spurs and Arsenal, even the match we lost against Everton, Mata created chances for Eto’o.
De Bruyne is a better 10 than Oscar too, at least he is more creative. Still he is used sparingly through the right flank. Don’t get me wrong, Oscar is a fantastic midfield but is a ball recycler with an attacking intent unlike Mikel that has been restricted @ the bridge. Oscar-Mikel- Ramires shd be reshuffled @ the pivot with Lamps and Essien providing cover. I think Mou shd think of the possibility of using Lamps as an impact sub behind the striker to use his late surging runs to great effect.
Against Newcastle, Jose made hurried changes, removing your most prolific striker for a not so prolific one and bringing Willian, a definite hardworker but not a direct player, remember, the game was still goalless @ dis stage. Torres should have stayed on, with Schurrle replacing Lampard.
This is my ideal team with their replacement in bracket
——————Cech (Schwarzer)———-
Ivan(azpi)—-Cahill—Luiz(Terry)–Cole(Bertand)
———–Mikel(Essien)–Oscar(Ramires)–
Schurrle(Willian)–Mata(Bruyne/Lampard)—Hazard(Schurrle/Willian)
——–Torres (Eto’o/Ba)
De Bruyne is more creative than Oscar but De Bruyne has said he likes being on a wing as he can see across the pitch and plan his passes.
pls select 11, you put out the whole team, confusing.
I think I agree with u on one side: Oscar should be playing along side Ramirez or mikel
leaving striking midfield of Hazard, mata and shurrler/william
Happy one please i suggest dat Ba should start,cahill instead of luiz
Cahill >Luiz
Luiz is showing that he wants to leave the team!!! He is not the same of the last seasons!!! The last seasons he loved the team and his heart was blue!!! On his Facebook, instagram and Twitter he used to put a lot of things of Chelsea but now he put a lot of weird things!!! And he plays with out sacrifice!!! It’s sad but is true!!!!
Another thing is that we have to leave our sentiments with all players!!!!
José should select the players who really deserve to start!!!