Premier League preview: Chelsea v Stoke
Having scored six without reply against West Brom and Wigan, Stoke manager Tony Pulis can be forgiven for thinking Chelsea might be capable of doing the same again.
The Premier League champions host Stoke at Stamford Bridge, and are bang in form. Last season’s golden boot winner Didier Drogba started the season off with a hat-trick, and then turned provider against Wigan.
The powerful Ivorian declared at the beginning of the campaign he is fully fit for the first time in six years. You fear the Stoke defence might have their work cut out to tame him and Chelsea, as they have scored 29 goals in their last five Premier League games and have gone seven-an- a-half hours without conceding.
Stoke have had a turbulent week, with their goalkeeper Asmir Begovic refusing to play in their mid-week Carling Cup game. Funnily enough, Chelsea want to sign the Bosnian, and they reportedly made an offer on the day he didn’t play. Angry, furious and upset can be some of the words to describe Pulis’ reaction to the situation. Still, he will be focusing on not trying to get hammered rather than on Begovic throwing his toys out of the pram.
In the other fixtures, Blackpool can finally play at their newly-developed home as they welcome Mark Hughes’ Fulham to Bloomfield Road. The season started in fairytale-like fashion for the Tangerines, winning 4-0 at Wigan. However, a trip to the Emirates last week brought them back down to earth as Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick for Arsenal in their 6-0 thumping.
Fulham rescued a point last week against Manchester United in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, as Brede Hangeland scored in injury-time to redeem himself after putting through his own net. The draw was made even better when Fulham ‘keeper David Stockdale, standing in for Mark Schwarzer, saved Nani’s penalty.
Tottenham play Wigan at White Hart Lane, and while Tottenham will be thinking about rubbing shoulders with reigning Champion League winners Inter Milan, Wigan will want to do better than they did here last season. The match ended 9-1 that day, and in their first two games so far this season, they have conceded 10 goals and failed to score. These are worrying times certainly for Roberto Martínez’s men.
Newcastle joined the party of scoring six last weekend by hammering Aston Villa, and their new No.9 Andy Carroll grabbed all the headlines with a stunning hat-trick on Newcastle’s return to the top-flight at St James Park. They travel to Molineux to play Mick McCarthy’s Wolverhampton Wanderers, who have beaten Stoke and earned a tough draw against Everton. Six again is highly unlikely in this fixture.
As they were in the Europa League on Thursday night, both Liverpool and Manchester City play on Sunday against West Brom and Sunderland respectively. Liverpool overcame a difficult game against Trabzonspor and have yet to win this season, drawing against Arsenal and losing 3-0 to City. West Brom conceded six against Chelsea but recovered by beating Sunderland 1-0, with new signing Peter Odemwingie scoring the winner.
City scraped a point at Tottenham and convincingly beat Liverpool, and their big-money megastars will be l*****g their lips at the prospect of playing Sunderland, who haven’t enjoyed a good start to the season. They surrendered a two-goal lead at home to Birmingham to only draw, and have lost to West Brom. It would be a miracle if manager Steve Bruce didn’t have a little moan in his post-match interview if the result doesn’t go his way.
It could be worse though. They could be playing Chelsea.
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