English Premier
2011-08-14 - Stoke City vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Lamps
Football : England : Premier League
Sunday 14th August - Kickoff 1:30pm
Stoke City
Tony Pulis continues to do a fantastic job with his Stoke City side, since coming up to the Premier League in 2008 his side has finished 12th, 11th and 13th. On a small budget Pulis has transformed this side from potential relegation candidates to a solid mid table club. This season as with all other sides, Stoke will want to improve even further and this starts with a home game against last season’s league runners up Chelsea.
In the above intro I failed to mention that last year’s 13th finish was somewhat “false” as Stoke went on a huge cup run and eventually finished runners up to Manchester City in the FA Cup. As is often the case when a side goes on such a run players get rested and rotated whilst despite not admitting it must surely be holding back to ensure they remain fit for their biggest games of their careers.
We will never know Stoke’s true position but it’s safe to say this is a side to look out for this season. Finishing second to Man City has meant Stoke has been given a chance to qualify for the Europa League and has already come through 2 rounds of qualifying this Summer. Having played competitive football I expect Stoke to be much closer to match fitness than Chelsea and should have plenty in the tank come the last 15 minutes which is an underrated advantage at this time of the season.
In the summer Pulis has signed two central defenders in Woodgate and Upson to bolster what is already a very solid defence. With City competing on two fronts this year an experienced squad is needed and these two are both capped International footballers.
Going the other way has seen Dickinson, Faye, Lund and Sonko leave the squad with only Faye a real regular in the squad. However towards the end of the season he was frozen out at the club and didn’t feature much anyway. All in all, the squad is the same as last year with two very decent signings.
Team news is that Fuller (achillies), Higginbotham (cruciates) and Sidibe (achilles) are out whilst both new signings are available for selection against Chelsea with their main competition coming from Shawcross and Huth. Although with Wilkinson (toe) a doubt for the game Huth may be pushed out to full back and my early guess would be Huth out wide with Shawcross and Woodgate in the middle with Upson on the bench but keep an eye out for official news before kick off.
As well as Wilkinson the only other doubt is to Delap (hamstring), the world’s most famous thrower missed the second leg against Hajduk Split but is likely to return for this game. It should mean a midfield of Etherington, Whelan, Delap and Pennant with both wide men expected to create plenty of chance for Jones and Walters up top.
It should be a typical direct looking Stoke that caused Chelsea all sorts of problems this game last season where it took a great deal of luck for Chelsea to survive with a point. Whilst Chelsea is unsettled and with a new manager, Stoke is a settled club and they know how to do their jobs all over the park and it’s going to take a big performance to beat the Potters on Sunday afternoon.
Predicted Stoke City Lineup:
Begovic, Wilson, Shawcross, Woodgate, Huth, Etherington, Whelan,, Delap, Pennant, Jones, Walters.
Chelsea
Winning the double in his first season meant nothing to Chairman Abramovic as Carlo Ancelotti was sacked at the back end of last season following a poor campaign which eventually saw the Blues come second. Andre Villas-Boas is the new man in charge and his first competitive game in charge is a tough away fixture at the Britannia Stadium when Chelsea visits Stoke.
It’s been a quiet summer for Chelsea in terms of player acquisitions with the Blues appearing to miss out on both Modric and Pastore that creative midfielder that this team has lacked for years now. On a brighter note the signing of Lukaku looks imminent with the player under going a medical and agreeing personal terms should cause much fuss. However, Lukaku is not a creative midfielder and given that there’s already Torres, Drogba and Anelka at the club I’m not sure Chelsea needs another number 9.
The two players to put pen to paper are Romeu (from Barca) and keeper Courtois (from Genk) with the latter going straight on loan to Atletico Madrid for the season. The ex-Barca player however is another defensive midfielder who will give Mikel a good run for this money in the starting lineup now that Essien has been ruled out for half the season.
Daniel Sturridge is like a new signing, he spent the second half of last season on loan at Bolton and was superb and then spent the summer playing in the under 21 European Championships. This year he appears to be back in the frame and although it’s not certain I’m sure Villas-Boas will use the youngster often this year. Unfortunately this won’t happen for the first 3 league games following his reckless red card on the final day of last season at Everton.
Going the other way Mancienne, Sala, Tore, Cork and Zhirkov have left the club with only the Russian Zhirkov a first team but only made 29 appearances in 3 years so he’s no great loss. As mentioned above Essien’s knee injury is set to keep him out until 2012 and that’s the biggest loss so far this summer.
Despite all the changes of the back room staff etc the club has had an excellent pre season winning all games and conceded just once in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Rangers. The opposition that Chelsea faced wasn’t superb but it did include Aston Villa and Rangers are ahead of the Blues in terms of match fitness so credit to Villas-Boas and his team.
Team news is that Sturridge (ban) and Essien (knee) are missing but doubts remain over Bertrand & Ivanovic (thigh), Lampard (illness), Luiz (knee) and Mikel (ankle) yet all are expected to be fit for selection come the weekend with Bertrand the only player likely to miss out on the match day squad.
Noone really knows what the first eleven will be for this game with Villas-Boas rotating a lot pre season but I’m going with the following below where Drogba gets the not over Torres given how physical Stoke is. Malouda should start out left with either Kalou or Anelka out right. The midfield without Essien will be Mikel holding with Ramires and Lampard supporting. The back four is tough to choose as well but with very little info I’m going with Cole, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic. In goal is of course Petr Cech.
Predicted Chelsea Lineup:
Cech, Cole, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka.
The Betting Verdict
Opening day is a nightmare betting wise and this year is no different. If Chelsea play as poorly as they did last season at Britannia they will lose but I’m expecting a better Chelsea this time round that should go close against Stoke.
That being said, Stoke not only are generally a very fit side, having played 4 competitive games already this year they should be sharper than Chelsea. The Potters also have the advantage of knowing exactly what their manager wants and expects them to do in their familiar system.
Villas-Boas has switched formation on many occasions mid games in pre season to test his side’s flexibility and it’s understandable if Chelsea isn’t fully up to speed tactically with their manager’s expectations.
With a solid home record last year and in front of the TV cameras I’m going for Stoke to hold the Blues in a score draw in which both sides should be relatively happy with a point.
Good Luck.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Stoke 1-1 Chelsea
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take the Draw at 4.00 @ Pinnaclesports
