Chelsea Fan View: Stoking the flames, Blues need to add to old favourite Sparky's woes
Chelsea welcome Stoke to Stamford Bridge this Saturday, and having dismissed lowly Brighton on Boxing Day they will be hoping for more of the same against the team from the Potteries. Well not quite.
The win against Brighton was decidedly a ‘game of two halves’ with the first half exemplifying Chelsea’s inability to start a game with energy and inability to break stubborn defences down.
They created more than enough chances to batter Brighton in the second half but were either unlucky or wasteful depending on your viewpoint and settled for a 2-0 win.
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On Saturday they again face a team that on paper should be no match for Chelsea. Stoke are on a poor run of form having lost six of their last ten matches, their only wins coming against West Brom and Swansea which given the poor season these relegation threatened clubs are having isn’t too much to shout about.
Stoke have already suffered a 7-2 thrashing by Man City and a 5-1 drubbing against Tottenham this season. Add to that the 4-0 defeat by Chelsea last September where Alvaro Morata scored his first hat-trick for the Blues and it is easy to understand why most Chelsea supporters should view this fixture with a lot of confidence.
Stoke manager Mark Hughes, a Chelsea fan himself, has a terrible record against the club he supported as a boy and played for with distinction in the 1990’s. As a manager he has lost more matches against Chelsea than he has against any other club; twenty defeats from twenty nine matches, winning five and drawing four. Furthermore he has never won at Stamford Bridge.
Sitting in 13th place it would seem that Stoke can comfortably achieve the mid table mediocrity they have been accustomed to. But this will give no comfort to their supporters who are already grumbling having expected far better with some of the recent signings made by Hughes with the promise of more adventurous football. It appears that they are in limbo but there is a real threat to Hughes tenure if they can’t muster a few wins soon.
The chances of doing this against Chelsea on Saturday, already difficult, seem even more remote with the disruption to their defence. Kurt Zouma, Chelsea’s promising centre back who has impressed for Stoke whilst on loan will be unavailable. Erik Pieters is doubtful with a hip injury and Ryan Shawcross is out with a calf strain and Glen Johnson and Bruno Martins Indi are both long term absentees.
All of which means that Chelsea’s attacking players should be licking their lips in anticipation of finding the net on Saturday.
However, Chelsea’s recent profligacy remains a concern. They are currently creating on average 25 shots per game with 8 on target, but in their last 3 games have scored only 3 goals. It seems that whether they play Alvaro Morata up front or use Eden Hazard as a false number nine, the issue remains the same.
It is about time that Chelsea dished out a good hiding to someone. Whilst the accusation that they have been wasteful carries some weight, it is also true to say that they have been a little unlucky too with goal line clearances; superb goalkeeping displays and the woodwork denying them.
I suspect that should they be fully focused and energised from the 1st minute (no guarantee recently) and they score an early goal then the floodgates may well open.
Much as I am very fond of Mark Hughes for his part in Chelsea’s history – who will ever forget his goal against Vicenza – I sincerely hope that Chelsea put Stoke to the sword on Saturday. It is about time they converted the numerous chances they create and if they fail to do so again it will mean a frustrating time for all.
David Chidgey @StamfordChidge
David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes,
Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast