Same, actually like the false 9 call with this lineup against Liverpool Of course I retain the right to say it was completely stupid if it doesn't work
It’s something different which I like and think is a good move at this point in the season. Assuming the city result holds there is a ton of pressure on Liverpool to get all 3 points. Hopefully we play a bit more defensive/counter attack and take our chances when they come.
I think Hazard up there takes Van Dijks impact away a little bit. Higuaín or Giroud wouldn’t fare so well against him.
Have to give Liverpool credit. This Chelsea team would never respond like this if the pressure is on. We are also nowhere close to them as a team. We have the best player if you combine the teams and kante is one of the top 10. Liverpool might have the other 8 if you did a top 10. Sad with how much we spent but it is what it is.
I'm so tired of Willian, wish he would just go away & Jorginho doesn't do near enough for me, rarely really influences matches.
I don’t think anything about today was embarrassing. That’s about as good as we are going to get with these players barring something magical happening. What’s embarrassing is that we threw Salah away and he now is leading the EPL in goals for a second straight season.
Completely agree. We went away to a better team playing for a title and kept it 0-0 at half. They scored a good goal and a wondergoal. We had 2 great chances and hit the post and then just missed one. They are a better team than us. I have criticized sarri a lot but we played more counter attacking and more traditional Chelsea style. We just don’t have enough good players. We sold salah and de bruyne combined for less money than we bought Danny drinkwater for. That’s on the board.
Chelsea’s Centre forward has scored in 4 of our last 24 league games. It’s a complete miracle that we even have a chance at top 4. We don’t have one of the 15 best strikers in the league. Every other team in the top 6 has 2 choices better than our best.
Long time no chat boys, haven't been able to keep up with EPL as much this season. Combined with our relatively uninspired play, I've been uninterested in carving out time to watch the team on the weekends. I did read recently that Spain may come calling for Willian again. If we don't sell him this time I might scream.
We play benfica. When the quarterfinal was drawn, they also draw which other 2 teams you could possibly play in the semifinal. 5th place Chelsea vs 6th place Arsenal for the Europa league and a champions league play in game. Would be wild.
*if we win. Can’t believe we just gifted them back into the game. Time for us to realize that luiz, Christensen and rudiger all aren’t good enough. Need a truly elite CB.
just checking the live gamecast on espn...this one cracked me up: Offside, Chelsea. Kepa Arrizabalaga tries a through ball, but Olivier Giroud is caught offside.
Would be funny if the biggest Chelsea v Arsenal game and arguably the biggest London derby of all time when you factor in what’s at stake would take place in Baku, Azerbaijan.
So Burnley, away Manchester United, Watford, and away Leicester City for us with Europa League home and away against Frankfurt. Arsenal is away Wolves, away Leicester, Brighton, and away Burnley with Europa League home and away against Valencia. Tottenham has Brighton, West Ham, away Bournemouth, Everton with Champions League home and away against Ajax. Manchester United has Man City, Chelsea, away Huddersfield, Cardiff with nothing. Arsenal and Tottenham have probably the easier league fixtures with ManU the hardest. We are probably a bit harder than Arsenal with the Manchester fixture though they are away for 3 matches. Gonna be an interesting race for 4th. I think Tottenham is firmly in and ManU is probably firmly out though City only has the League to play for now and that’s the pivotal fixture. I still think our best shot is Europa. If we win Europa and Arsenal places 4th in the league, do we supplant them? I can’t recall the rules.
No, a league can have up to 5 teams qualify for UCL. The only scenario where the 4th place team would get bumped is if Arsenal/United finish 3rd/4th, Chelsea win Europa, and Tottenham win UCL. Or switch Arsenal and Chelsea around.
Tottenham could win the champions league and us or arsenal the Europa league and if those 2 finish 5th and 6th, England can have 6 in the champions league. Very unlikely scenario but it’s possible to see it this year.
Liverpool can win but it won't affect UCL qualification as they will already qualify through the league. The limit is 5 per league. 4th place gets bumped to Europa under the scenarios in my previous post.
Interesting. I thought I read it could be 6. That would be hilarious Spoiler Unless it’s chelsea that gets screwed.
It used to just be 4 spots per league before the Europa winner became an automatic qualifier. Tottenham finished 4th in 2012 but were bumped to Europa because you guys won UCL and finished 6th.