Chelsea will look to build on their impressive performance away to Burnley on Monday night when they take on another newly promoted outfit in Leicester City.
Date: Saturday, 23rd August Kick-off: 15:00 GMT Venue: Stamford Bridge TV: MOTD Highlights, BBC 1
Chelsea return to Stamford Bridge for the first time of the season on Saturday as they aim to maintain their very early season top spot in the Premier League.
Their opponents are another side who recently returned to the Premier League, as Leicester City earn entertain their fans in the Premier League for the first season in a decade.
Although we’ve only seen them for one game, Mourinho’s new-look Chelsea side look a well oiled machine; much like the side that won back-to-back Premier League titles during The Special One’s first stint at the club.
We saw what Chelsea can do on Monday night against Burnley but, like Chelsea, Leicester also came from behind (twice infact) against Everton to earn a creditable draw to kick off life back in the big leagues.
This is once again a reminder that facing newly promoted sides, particularly this early in the season, are not games to be taken lightly and Mourinho will no doubt be reminding his team of that.
Mourinho will be delighted with the form of his new signings on Monday night, as both Diego Costa and Cecs Fabregas were integral in bringing Chelsea from behind to go on to secure a comfortable three points away from home.
He will, however, be disappointed with the manner in which Chelsea conceded, as last season’s best defence left two men unmarked on the edge of the box, and Burnley took advantage. Perhaps a return to Stamford Bridge and the Chelsea fans will be a chance to get the simple things right.
Leicester showed the resilience need to survive in the Premier League on Saturday, and surely any point to take away from Stamford Bridge would be seen as a successful afternoons work by the travelling supporters.
Their fans have to go back 14 years to find the last time the Foxes took all three points away from West London, and they haven’t had too much other success against Chelsea since then either.
Chelsea have the luxury of a full set of players from which to select their line ups from, with Ramires back in contention following a 4 game suspension which he completed on Monday night.
Didier Drogba should also be fit to start should Mourinho feel that he is needed, otherwise he will surely make some form of appearance after making his second Chelsea debut on Monday evening.
Jose may also feel the need to change the defence around, with left-back Filipe Luis still waiting to make his debut for the club. However, with Ivanovic scoring on Monday and Azpilicueta performing well, he may have to wait a little while longer.
However, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa will surely make their home debut after stand out performances on Monday. Nemanja Matic was also brilliant on Monday and will surely keep his place.
The trio behind the striker can be chopped and changed and still be a formidable proposition. Schurrle, Oscar and Hazard started on Monday night while Mo Salah didn’t get a look in, and it looks set to stay that way.
However, Oscar came under criticism for his performance and, if Mourinho agrees, he may be finding himself on the Chelsea bench from the start tomorrow.
Courtois looks set to remain in goal, despite Mourinho claiming he hadn’t selected him as his number one for the season.
Leicester will be without Upson through injury, but are hopeful that Vardy and Albrighton will be passed fit to play. However, Danny Drinkwater and Matty James are also ruled out the clash through injury.
A home victory, and hopefully a comfortable one, is on the cards for Chelsea as they look to round off a solid week and remain on top of the Premier League come the end of gameweek 2.
However, Chelsea had a poor end to last season at home, losing one and drawing one, so the boys in blue will be determined to make Stamford Bridge a fortress for the coming season; starting Saturday.
Chelsea v Leicester – Pre-match stats
- Cesc Fabregas has assisted 50 goals in his last 104 Premier League appearances.
- Chelsea have won their last six matches against Leicester City in all competitions.
- In 95 matches between the clubs, Chelsea have 45 wins, but have suffered 23 losses. There have been 27 draws between the sides.
- Chelsea have scored 171 goals against Leicester, an average on 1.8 goals per game.
Source: Opta/ChelseaMad
Chelsea v Leicester – Predicted lineup
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle; Diego Costa
Billy’s prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Leicester
