After a devastating blow to our Title hopes last weekend Carlo Ancelotti will know that anything less than a loss will cost him dearly. He was left stunned after a below par Manchester City were able to destroy a even more below par Chelsea. Goalkeeping at Chelsea Football Club hit an all new low with Hilario’s performance. The FA Cup has opened up more for Chelsea with the elimination of Man City and other ‘Big 4’ members. Main contenders now remain in the form of Tottenham and Aston Villa who recently lost the Carling Cup Final.

The 4-2 loss to Manchester City at Stamford Bridge was a heavy defeat and Carlo will have seen many on field mistakes he will want to forget. A straight red to Belletti and 2 yellows to Ballack will mean they are both suspended for the game against Stoke City who have been on fire recently until their 3-1 loss to Arsenal.

The same fixture in the league at the start of the season saw Chelsea snatch a late winner with Malouda tapping in the winner in injury time to extend Ancelotti’s winning run. Drogba also scored in that game to draw Chelsea level. Chelsea will play at home once again and will hope that they can get their home form back on track.

Chelsea will once again be without Michael Essien, Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole as they are all long term absentees. Zhirkov is doubtful and Ballack and Belletti are suspended. With the international break Ricardo Carvalho has returned with an injury which might leave him out of the game.
Stoke City will be missing a more important player in the form of Ryan Shawcross who was recently called up to the England squad just hours after his horrid tackle on Aaron Ramsey. They will also be missing Matthew Etherington who has been in sizzling form for Stoke with 8 assists this campaign. Other than that they miss no major players!
However, Stoke City are also one of the most unfair teams in the English First Division with Abdoulaye Faye heading the standings for number of red cards this season with 2! They are also not far behind in the yellow cards with 2 of their players holding 7 yellow cards each.
Carlo Ancelotti will have available Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka his top scorers. However, Anelka has been facing a barren spell recently and Ancelotti needs to work out how to get the Frenchman scoring once again.

Expected Line Up
Turnbull
Ivanovic
Alex
Terry
Ferreria
Joe Cole
Mikel
Lampard
Anelka
Malouda
Drogba

I am not convinced that Hilario is worth being at the club and I think Ross Turbull is better and put in some decent performances for Middlesbrough last season in the league. Ancelotti will not be taking his chances will know that the FA Cup is a good chance for silverware this season and will go all guns blazing. I feel that he needs to find a way to allow Anelka to move into a striking position so that he and Drogba can share the load so that sometimes Drogba is a lone striker and sometimes he is partnering up. Sturridge will not start as this is the first premier league opposition we face in the tournament. Joe Cole will start on the right of the midfield and will make runs down the wings and cut into the defense and make sure he is creates a havoc. Malouda is just exceeding expectations and has been flourishing in his new role. I think Matic could start because Mikel hasn’t shown the recent form I think and is too slow so it is necessary that he proves himself to Ancelotti.

On Field Battle
For the first time I think the match will be between Stoke City’s Rory Delap and the Chelsea defense. I honestly feel that the defense will always be under threat from this man’s long throws and will need to figure out a way to deal with his set pieces, keeping in mind that 14 of Stokes last goals from set-pieces came from Delap’s long throws. John Terry will need to command his men and then get on the counter attack to beat Stoke City.

Prediction
Chelsea will go in with a bang and keep should tear up a Stoke without their rock, Ryan Shawcross. It will still be a tough game with players like Ricardo Fuller who are exceptional in working with little space. Stoke set pieces are to be regarded with danger and dealing with them will be difficult. But with players like Malouda great on the wings Chelsea will be able to beat them on the counter attack fairly easily. Also, this will be the best time for Didier Drogba to start scoring again after not scoring for 2 consecutive games. The Ivorian could also be boosted by the appointment of Guus Hiddink as Ivory Coast coach, ironically on a temporary basis. I hope Chelsea will be able to get around this tough Stoke side who has won 8 times this season but have given other teams a stern test.

Chelsea 3-1 Stoke City
Drogba Fuller
Lampard
Drogba