[14Atlas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by njrfcatlas14

Matchday #1 Chelsea vs. Stoke City

London, ENGLAND: Hello football fans I'm Andy Gray giving you the match preview this weekend of Stoke City vs Chelsea FC. First off we will talk about Chelsea's preseason results.

(underlined are transfer updates)

In their first friendly they went out with their normal formation with a full strength lineup except for the injured Didier Drogba who is out until late September early October. They played a very nice game against PSV Eindhoven having most possesion and playing it around nicely going on to win 2-0 with goals from Deco and Kalou with Anelka and Malouda making appearances around the hour mark. In their second preseason friendly Chelsea played a full strength Benfica beating them 4-1 with 2 goals from Anelka, and 1 from both Ballack and Mikel after Scolari used a very different lineup opting for Anelka, Fabio Paim, Mikel, Bridge, Alex, and Florent Malouda. Scolari was very happy with the result also stating that with such a different lineup it have him a headache after the match who would be starters for him. It was announced after the result against Benfica that Phillipe Senderos had chosen to sign with Chelsea on a free transfer from free agency for reportedly $55,000 US dollars a week. Senderos will add very nice depth to the Chelsea defense and may see some playing time in their final preseason friendly against Lyon Scolari told reporters after a training session the next day. Another signing of Chelsea's was Freddy Adu coming from AS Monaco after the game aginst Lyon for somewhere around $12 million US dollars (scroll up to see more info).There was news out of Lyon this day that Benzema was officially looking for a new club to go to, Lyon are asking for 32-40 million US dollars for Benzema. Benzema had not been sold yet as Chelsea prepared for the final preseason game against them and Chelsea had confirmed interest in the player. Chelsea's lineup against Lyon was:

Cudicini
Bridge--------Mancienne----Senderos--------Bosingwa
(LWB)-------(LCB)------(RCB)--------------(RWB)
Mikel
(CM)
Lampard-----------------------Deco
(LAM) ---------(RAM)
Malouda----------------Di Santo-------------------Cole
(LWM)-----------------(ST)-----------------(RWM)

Early on right before the 20 minute mark a player from Lyon crossed the ball to Benzema who got wide open for it and Benzema headed it into the back of the net. At the half hour mark Chelsea had a great opportunity but Deco's rip was deflected for a corner kick. As Lampard crossed the ball in from the corner there was a sudden scramble in the box with two deflections off defenders and finally Joe Cole ripped it into the back of the net. It ended at halftime 1-1. At half Anelka replaced Di Santo and Ballack replaced Malouda as Scolari was looking to put experience on the field and win this friendly. During the second half Lyon and Chelsea both had near perfect chances to score but the finishing wasn't perfect at all. Final score a draw 1-1. After the match Ballack, Anelka, Lampard, and Deco were very dissapointed all wishing they could have several plays redone and thinking what they could have done. It was reported after this match Chelsea had loaned Rhys Taylor out to Cork City.
So now after a dissapointing draw away to Lyon Scolari looks to pick up his team and bring them to their first Premier League title since 2006 by kicking off with a bang against Stoke and getting revenge on Manchester United who became Premier League Champs on the last day of the season back in the spring and also beating Chelsea on PKs in the Champions League Final.
Stoke City will look to upset Chelsea with confidence mounted around the club after being promoted for the first ever time to the Premier League. Stoke City will go with a full strenth squad suffering no injuries to them.

Team News:

Chelsea: After preseason performances Anelka will start at striker instead of Drogba and Alex to start on defense instead of Ricky Carvolho. Deco, Scolari's first signing will make his competitive debut starting on the left wing.
(click to enlarge)

Stoke City: Will be looking to Dave Kitson and Dwayne Fuller to lead their attack against Chelsea also with Serensen looking to keep his team in the game by not giving up many goals although that will be hard against a world class Chelsea offense.

-Sorensen-
-Shawcross-Griffin(c)-Higginbotham-Faye-
-Lawrence-Olofinjana-Delap-Pugh-
-Kitson-Fuller-

Players to Watch

Frank Lampard: Frank will be looking to win the league this year after last season's trophy less campaign. A Chelsea blue to the heart signed a new deal this summer and will be looking to impress new manager Phil Scolari with scoring a goal and getting into the attack.


















Dave Kitson: Kitson will be Stoke's main threat in front of goal this season and will look to get a goal or two against Chelsea and possibly upset them on opening day. Hoping to keep Stoke out of the drop zone this season by providing them with many many goals this season.