Premiership preview, table prediction: 2.Chelsea

Chelsea

Chelsea Barclays Premier League position preview 2011/12

Manager: Andre Villas-Boas

Ground: Stamford Bridge

Nickname: The Blues

Capacity: 42055

Squad:

Goalkeepers 1 Petr Cech 22 Ross Turnbull 30 Rhys Taylor 40 Henrique Hilario Matej Delac ·         Defenders 2 Branislav Ivanovic 3 Ashley Cole 4 David Luiz 4 Patrick van Aanholt 17 Jose Bosingwa 19 Paulo Ferreira 26 John Terry 33 Alex 34 Ryan Bertrand 47 Billy Clifford 62 Nathaniel Chalobah 63 Slobodan Rajkovic Ben Gordon

Midfielders 5 Michael Essien 7 Ramires 8 Frank Lampard 12 Mikel John Obi 15 Florent Malouda 17 Jacob Mellis 46 Josh McEachran 48 Conor Clifford 50 Aliu Djalo 51 Rohan Ince Oriol Romeu Attacking Midfielders 10 Yossi Benayoun

Forwards 9 Fernando Torres 11 Didier Drogba 21 Salomon Kalou 23 Daniel Sturridge 39 Nicolas Anelka 44 Gael Kakuta 58 Adam Phillip 64 Milan Lalkovic

Chelsea finished 2^nd last season behind champions Manchester United. I expect a similar season this year with Chelsea being United hardest competitors for the title. Chelsea have appointed manager Adre Villas-Boas during the summer, a young and upcoming manager which is compared to old Chelsea manger Jose Mourinho.  The question is if he can take control of Chelsea dressing room and make the players follow his system. A lot of newspapers are talking about Terry, Lampard, Drogba and Anelka having to much influence on the squad, which will make the job for Villas-Boas hard. I think Villas-Boas knows better and taking a treble with Porto last season is impressive for any manager. I believe he will produce the goods this season, but I’m not sure it’s enough to win the title.

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

Jul 12 vs Wycombe Wanderers 3-0 – Benayoun, Torres, Rajkovic

July 16 vs Portsmouth 1-0 – Ben-Haim (og)

July 21 vs Malaysia XI 1-0 – Roslan (og)

July 24 vs Thailand XI 4-0 – Lampard, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Malouda

July 27 vs Kitchee SC 4-0 – Lampard, Luzardo (own goal), Drogba, Sturridge

July 31 vs Aston Villa 2-0 McEachran, Torres

August 6 vs Rangers 3-1 Sturridge (2), Malouda

Players in

08/11 Romelu Lukaku FW RSC Anderlecht

07/11 Gaël Kakuta FW Fulham FC

07/11 Oriol Romeu FW FC Barcelona

07/11 Slobodan Rajković DF Vitesse

07/11 Daniel Sturridge FW Bolton Wanderers

Players out

08/11 Yuriy Zhirkov MF Anzhi Makhachkala

06/11 Jacopo Sala MF Hamburger SV

06/11 Gökhan Töre MF Hamburger SV

Villas-Boas have signed some interesting players already in Romelu Lukaku who is reported to be the new Drogba. That being said Sturridge also looks like a new player and have impressed hugh for the club in pre-season. Roumers are stating that Villas-Boas are still looking to bring in more players before the window closes.

Injuries:                         Return date                       situation

Essien (Michael)            7th Jan 2012                      Anterior cruciate ligament

Luiz (David)                   20th Aug 2011                   Knee injury

Sturridge (Daniel)          27th Aug 2011                   3 Match Ban

Most likely starting lineup for Chelsea next weekend:

   1 Petr Cech

2 Branislav Ivanovic        26 John Terry    33 Alex      3 Ashley Cole

  12 Mikel John            7 Ramires

                                                 8 Frank Lampard

10 Yossi Benayoun                                                                 21 Salomon Kalou

   11 Didier Drogba

Chelsea is looking strong as usual and if Villas-Boas get results from the start they will be difficult to beat this season. In my opinion they have the easiest opening of the season. They will be playing Stoke, West Brom, Norwich and Sunderland before they are going up against Manchester United. This should give Villas-Boas enough time to boost the confidence of his team to bed ready for United. I predict Chelsea finishing 2nd this year aswel, but could very well win the title this year.