Back to it!

With things settling back down a little with regards to family illness matters and me-personally over a really bad seasonal virus; with Spring having finally sprung in the UK (although expect some snow across large parts of Britain on Monday), a nice 2-½ weeks off work and with proper footy back on the scene; there are plenty of reasons for me to feel optimistic at the moment. 

 

Not forgetting also, of course, that we’re 16-points clear at the top of the Premier League before a ball is kicked this weekend; we are the winners of the 2017 / 18 League Cup and in the last 8 of the Champions League. Plenty of reasons for ALL Blues to have a skip in their step I’d say…

v Everton.

Goodison Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game, which, for me Blog-wise, was the Chelsea, home-league game: 9/11).

Fluid 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Aguero____________________

Sane___________________________________Sterling

___________D. Silva__________De Bruyne__________

__________________Fernandinho__________________

Delph____________________________________Walker

____________Otamendi______Kompany___________

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Bravo, Danilo, Laporte, Zinchenko, Gundogan, B. Silva, Jesus.

‘Ed’ has the gloves.

A back-4, I think, of the returning Fabian, midweek goal-scorer Nicholas, Vincent & Kyle.

Fernandinho to sit in front of those and with Leroy, David, Kevin & Raheem all ahead of him.

Although Pep said he was much, much, much better, our manager was not committing himself otherwise on whether Sergio will play a part tomorrow evening. I’m saying the Argentine will have been primed behind the scenes ready to step back in at Goodison and for the remaining fixtures of 2017 / 18.

Claudio has back-up to Ederson; Danilo, Aymeric & Oleksandr the reserve defenders (although I’ll chuck-in a reminder that Zinchenko is, in fact, a more natural left-sided attacking midfielder). Ilkay, Bernardo & Gabriel provide some very-high-quality creativity & goal threat from ‘the 7’, should they be needed.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy: On his way back to fitness. However, possibly a surprise inclusion in tomorrow’s squad? There are rumours…

-       John Stones: Not deemed safe to play following concussion whilst away with England (a 7-day concussion rule that I wasn’t aware of).

-       Yaya Toure (not selected).

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep.

Result? Well our fabulous form and momentum aside, for me this is a lot about weighing up an-often ‘bogey ground’ vs the fact that we often get the better of a Sam Allardyce side…with a sprinkling of whether we can shift smoothly back into gear following a WHOPPING break of 19 days!

Of course, it’s the same for all teams…but I often don’t like how we first look following an international break and, on that score, we might take some time to get going tomorrow evening; possibly allowing the home side to press us early on and threatening a scare or two. However, if we can ride that out, should it happen that way, we are good at showing patience and eventual momentum and so I’m not too concerned about that.

As for the “bogey” issue – and excusing the similar ‘Wigan factor’ recently – I think we’re just too good now to allow such past traditions to worry us and I’m glad for-us-to-be-facing another ‘big Sam’ side for the 5:30pm KO BST.

We might concede – possibly even first – but this is an away win for me.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost (by a big, 4-0 margin!)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Should be dry for the game after some earlier rain but there’s a chance of a few drops during ‘the 90’. 7C doesn’t exactly sound VERY cold but with the sun dipping for the late KO and a Northerly wind of around 14mph, it’s definitely suggestive of warm coats and a pie for the fans and we might see some players still sporting gloves.