Football - Stoke v Chelsea preview
Stoke v Chelsea preview
Chelsea travel to Stoke City on Saturday without banned manager Jose Mourinho, who hopes his absence will not prevent the players from picking up a much-needed victory.
The Barclays Premier League champions earned an important UEFA Champions League victory against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday, but they have suffered back-to-back BPL defeats.
Chelsea sit 15th in the table with just 11 points from as many matches and are 14 points adrift of league leaders Manchester City and second-placed Arsenal.
Six league defeats in 2015/16 matches Mourinho's worst return in his career and Chelsea face a trip to the Britannia Stadium, having suffered a penalty-shoot out defeat in a League Cup tie there last week. As Mourinho serves a one-match stadium ban after being dismissed at West Ham recently, the Portuguese hopes his players can motivate themselves out of his presence.
"I think they will know I am with them," he said. "They know I am going to prepare the team until the moment they go to the game.
"They know that during the game, the action of the manager is not so crucial and I think the fact they know why I am not on the bench is also important for the group." Stoke have had an inconsistent campaign to date, with a run of three straight league wins halted by one point from their last two matches against Watford and Newcastle United.
Only four of their 13 points have been picked up at home and defender Erik Pieters cannot put his finger on why they have been more successful on the road. "Our away form seems to be better than our home form at the moment," the defender told the Stoke Sentinel.
"You can't explain that, it's one way one season then the opposite. Sometimes you are better at home. It is how it is and it's time to change our home record. "It is good and it is positive [at the moment]. It is too bad we didn't get a win at Newcastle or a win against Watford but I still think we are in good shape.
"Most games are going to be tight in the Premier League, but we have some good forwards. Marko [Arnautovic] is doing really well and I hope everyone will get more confident as we play more matches like we have done over the last two seasons.
"We have had really good finishes to get into the top 10 twice and hopefully we can do that again. Maybe we can do even better than that, but we have to take it game by game." As well as long-term absentee Thibaut Courtois, Chelsea have been without Branislav Ivanovic (hamstring) and Radamel Falcao (muscle injury) during recent matches, although Pedro made a return as a substitute against Kiev. Stoke are without Marc Muniesa (hamstring) and Shay Given (knee).
Stoke City (from): Butland, Haugaard, Bardsley, Cameron, Johnson, Pieters, Shawcross, Teixeira, Wilson, Wollscheid, Adam, Afellay, Ireland, Moha, Shaqiri, Shenton, Sidwell, Van Ginkel, Whelan, Arnautovic, Bojan, Crouch, Diouf, Joselu, Odemwingie, Walters.
Chelsea (from): Amelia, Begovic, Blackman, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Djilobodji, Ivanovic, Rahman, Terry, Zouma, Fabregas, Hazard, Loftus-Cheek, Matic, Mikel, Oscar, Ramires, Traore, Willian, Costa, Falcao, Kenedy, Pedro, Remy.
Match Appointments
Referee: Anthony Taylor Assistants: D Cann, L Betts Fourth Official: C Pawson