Match Preview: Chelsea FC v Cardiff City
Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
It’s finally here, the final match-day of the Barclay’s Premier League season and the match against Cardiff City, and sadly Chelsea will be ending this campaign without any new silverware. Despite this however, we have one more match to play and it should provide another 90 minutes of entertainment.
While Chelsea are not celebrating any hardware, we should at least be grateful we are not facing relegation from the top flight, Cardiff lost 3-0 last weekend to Newcastle United and were guaranteed relegation back into the Championship.
Despite missing out on trophies this season, the Blues manager Jose Mourinho had no complaints about his first season back in the Premier League, the Portuguese manager repeatedly mentioned the positives of this season with being in contention for the title until the last weeks and reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Surely with a full season under Mourinho his players coming into next season (many off a busy summer of World Cup action) will be ready for another term of campaigning for all sorts of trophies all over Europe.
Team News:
The manager admitted he will most likely be without some key players for Sundays match, Frank Lampard missed training through illness, while Samuel Eto’o and John Terry picked up knocks in training. Oscar will most likely miss the match with a hip injury he has been nursing for weeks, Petr Cech is out following successful shoulder surgery, and Ramires is suspended for violent conduct (the 3rd of his 4 match ban). We could see some young players given a run out against Cardiff, as neither side have much to play for besides pride for the shirt they wear.
Predicted Starting XI:
Again, I’ll be posting 2 lineups, one for the 4-2-3-1 and one for the 4-3-3 formations. Due to injuries, suspensions and a lack of anything to play for, the lineups could look very odd for Chelsea. Personally I would enjoy seeing some youngsters get a runout, so I’ve included them in these formations.
4-2-3-1
——————————-Schwarzer————————–
—-Azpilicueta———Luiz———Cahill———-Ivanovic
———————-Van Ginkel—————Matic——————
——–Hazard—————–Willian—————Schurrle——
——————————–Torres——————————-
4-3-3
————————————Schwarzer——————————
—-Azpilicueta———–Kalas————Cahill———-Ivanovic—
—————–Ake—————-Matic—————Luiz———-
————Hazard—————–Torres—————–Willian——–
Prediction:
The Chelsea players gear up for one last hurrah this season and send the Chelsea away fans home happy, while the Cardiff fans are forced to hope for another Championship title next season. 3-1 to Chelsea, and onward to the World Cup in Brazil!