In his pre-match press conference Manuel Pellegrini listed just
Nastasic (remember him?), Navas & Silva as
being injured. No mention of Yaya. So,
presumably, our Ivorian midfielder will be fit to play some part in our tough
trip to Selhurst Park .
Focus
All we can and should do is concentrate on our own game –
there’s nothing we can do to influence the Liverpool
result; a game that will finish just before our match on Sunday and I’m
certainly not going to comment on whether Mourinho
and / or the Chelsea board are going to
“sanction” the weakening of their team at Anfield
ahead of their important return leg of the Champions League next week.
What I will say is that Chelsea have, in my opinion, the
best squad in the Premier League (apart from in
the striker department) and ANY Chelsea side is capable of upsetting Liverpool
on Sunday – whether that’s by taking a
point back home to London or all 3 will remain to be seen…
So, straight to it then…
Selhurst Park |
4-4-1-1:
_______________Aguero_______________
_______________Jovetic_______________
________Fernandinho__________________
Clichy___Kompany___Demichelis__Zabaleta
_________________Hart________________
Hart, of course.
I’d be looking to Nasri to have a better game than he did
the last time his midfield “partner” Silva was missing [against Sunderland] and will probably feature down the left
for the most part. Fernandinho “holding” and, most likely, Milner on the right.
I think our
manager will start with Toure. Yaya doesn’t strike me as much of a bench
“impact player”; he often takes time to warm up. So I think Pellegrini will be
hoping that Yaya can assist in us getting a firm, early grip on the game and,
hopefully, help to put the game out of reach before having to (I’m sure) come
off before the end of his comeback game.
I’ve just got a feeling that Jovetic MIGHT get a start here
and fill a David Silva “advanced” role behind the striker. I’m sticking my neck
out here - Jovetic doesn’t get many starts. It makes sense to me at least;
Stevan’s floating, mobile nature can be a huge asset for us on Sunday.
Against Albion last Monday
Aguero seemed a LOT sharper – if he’s managed to gain a further 5 or 10% during
the week then watch out Palace!
Decent bench with two very different strikers on there if
needed; a midfield defensive replacement for Yaya in the shape of Javi Garcia
and if we’re in front; we have cover for the tiring Zabaleta in the form of
soon-to-be-departing Micah Richards.
Result? I think
we can break Palace’s fine run of 5 wins from 5. It’ll be very tough of course but
I’m going for us taking all 3 points. C’mon City!
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