Juventus v Chelsea Preview: Chess or Chaos?
By dixon9
November 20 2012
This is going to be a very tough match (and who likes playing away in Italy?!). We know how good Juventus are and they just don’t seem to lose at home. A loss for us tonight could cause us problems in qualifying for the knock-out stage – a draw would be ok but a win would mean qualification before the last match at home.
Permutations, permutations...
We are fortunate in that Shakhtar and Juventus have to play each other for the last game on December 5th whilst we play Nordsjaelland at the Bridge. Should we lose tonight it is possible that we can still go through if we win our last game and Shakhtar beat Juventus but…wouldn’t it be nice if we avoid that stress and get at least a draw tonight?! Or how about a win even? The long unbeaten Juventus run at home has to happen at some point doesn’t it?
"...Chelsea's number 9"
There’s been a lot of speculation in the media about Fernando Torres being dropped for tonight’s game. I should start by saying that personally I really do believe that Torres will return to his prolific best. We’ve seen him progress and regress in fits and starts…but he just can’t seem to reach consistency. It may well be that a rest tonight – or soon – a break from the huge pressure on his shoulders, is just what he needs.
The problem is we just don’t have enough strikers in the squad and therefore can’t afford the luxury of dropping Torres for a significant amount of time (what will happen – sods law, typical Chelsea etc – is that he will hit scintillating form just as we sign a new, top striker in January!). So what will Matteo do? Rest Torres, Sturridge as a loan striker and instruct the midfield to sit back more? It’s a tough call although our manager has hinted at doing exactly that.
Reinforcements
Mata, Oscar, Ramires and Ivanovic are all back tonight after being rested or largely rested at the weekend and there’s even talk about Ashley Cole returning from his ankle injury. Terry is still injured of course…and that’s a worry. We tend to be unstable at the back when he is absent.
"Oh no! It's Pirlo!"
Our nemesis in the form of Andrea Pirlo returns for them and I understand that Mirko Vucinic has the flu.
Cagey and tentative - or all out Chaos?
Juventus don’t necessarily play in the typical Italian style but they may be that bit extra cagey tonight - if they lose then they will almost certainly go out of the competition. I believe that to have any chance of a win tonight we would need to score first to make them open up and then hit them on the break again and again. Otherwise prepare yourself for a chess match.
Chelsea(from): Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Bertrand, Mikel, Romeu, Ramires, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Moses, Marin, Piazon, Torres, Sturridge, Turnbull.
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Backs against the wall before the game kicks off. Just the why Chelsea like it
Don't Gamble, Bet Risk Free
