Chelsea V Newcastle – Carling Cup match preview.
Posted on September 21st, 2010 | 323 Comments |
The reality is that both sides are likely to field watered down versions of their respective teams so it is very much going to be a battle of the fringe players at Stamford Bridge.
That won’t sit well with fans who would like us to make a concerted effort to get to the latter stages of the competition, but it is unfortunately part and parcel of what football is about these days. Premier League survival is the priority, and Hughton has made no secret of that, and if you look at the figures you can perhaps see why. A team that finishes 17th in the Premier League will recieve around £3.2 million in prize money plus the guarantee of another lucrative season of TV money compared to a team earning just £100,000 in prize money for winning the Carling Cup.
No matter though as whatever team plays I am sure we will all get behind them and hope they can pull of a shock result at the home of the reigning Premier League champions.
Chelsea will be without Jose Bosingwa who is still a couple of weeks away from fitness whilst John Terry is expected to not be risked ahead of their game against Manchester City at the weekend. Frank Lampard is fit again although he will more than likely be eased back into action from the substitutes bench.
I’ll take a stab at their team looking something like this;
Chelsea – Ross Turnbull, Jeffrey Bruma, Alex, Branislav Ivanovic, Patrick Van Aanholt, Yuri Zhirkov, Ramires, Yossi Benayoun, Gael Kakuta, Daniel Sturridge, Fabio Borini.
Chris Hughton has warned fans who are making the trip to Stamford Bridge to expect a changed side from the side who won at Everton at the weekend. Steve Harper joins long-term injury victims Dan Gosling and Steven Taylor on the sidelines although there is some good news regarding both Danny Simpson and Danny Guthrie who can now no longer be classed as long-term absentees and should be ready for first-team action within a few weeks. James Perch will the miss match as he serves a one match suspension for picking up five yellow cards whilst Sol Campbell is expected to make his long awaited debut in a Newcastle shirt.
I would expect the team will look something like this;
Newcastle – Tim Krul, James Tavernier, Sol Campbell, Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor, Alan Smith, Haris Vuckic, Jonas Gutierrez, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi.
That doesn’t actually look like bad side in itself to be fair!
The tie must be sorted out one way or the other tomorrow and a penalty shooout could be used if required. It’s not going to be an easy game depsite the fact that Chelsea are likely to field a weakened team compared to usual, although hopefully our own fringe players will step up to the mark and show the gaffer that they themselves have something to offer and try to stake their claim for a place in the first-team.
My prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle (Although evidently I am pretty crap at these :D )
Howay the lads!
Date – Wednesday, 22nd Sepetember, 2010.
Time – 7:45pm.
Venue – Stamford Bridge, London.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Bit early innit?