Chelsea FC head to the Brittania Stadium looking for their fourth win in a row in all competitions since losing to Newcastle United on December 6th. The Blues face a tough test against Stoke City and manager Jose Mourinho knows very well how dangerous they can be. Last season the Blues came to the Brittania in early December and lost courtesy of a stoppage time belter from on loan winger Oussama Assaidi.
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The Blues will of course be hoping for a different result this time around and can look to a 3-0 win over Stoke City last April for inspiration. This is however a different Stoke side that features a dynamic playmaker in Bojan Krkic along with the usual brutes up front in Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch. Chelsea must also contend with Mame Biram Diouf who brings a different dimension to the Potters as well as the aerial threat that nearly every Stoke player poses to opposing defenses.
Jose Mourinho, per StokeCityFC.com, spoke about the match last season and said that he will not be changing his team’s style despite the loss. “Sometimes you play very well and you lose, other times you don’t play so well and you win. I think that last season we played well against Stoke but we made two individual mistakes that cost us the game,” said Mourinho.
He continued and said, “That’s part of the game and I think we have to play our football. In this moment we feel the respect from everyone, not just because we are getting results but for the way that we are getting them. We have to go there and play our game, but obviously we know well their qualities as a team and as individuals. If you know you are going to play against Peter Crouch and play against the defenders they have and don’t adapt you are in trouble – we do have the qualities to adapt.”
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What Mourinho means by adapting to Crouch is that the Blues must adjust to the physical and aerial threat they pose. Stoke City is known for having one of the tallest lineups in the Premier League and despite some tweaks by Mark Hughes, they still often play the route one way of sending high balls and crosses in to the opposition box. So the Blues must be ready for a physical matchup and must be perfect in their defense of set pieces to not allow the Potters to get on the end of corners or free kicks in the penalty area.
The pressure is on Jose Mourinho and Chelsea as they must win to extend their lead at the top once again to three points after Manchester City defeated Crystal Palace. City was without Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero, and Vincent Kompany but were still able to handle Crystal Palace with ease. Their quality shone through against a bottom of the table team and Chelsea FC must do the same on Monday but against some decidedly more physical opposition.
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