The Big EPL Preview: Chelsea out to halt slump; Everton host Arsenal In less than two weeks, Chelsea has damaged both its Premier League and Champions League chances. After a triumphant 6-0 drubbing of Arsenal last month, Jose Mourinho’s team looked set for a strong finish and was expected to fight toe to toe with Manchester City and Liverpool in a three-way battle for the league title. But Chelsea then slumped to a surprise 1-0 loss at the hands of Crystal Palace before poor defending led to a 3-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinals. The Blues are facing a tricky domestic encounter on Saturday as a resurgent Stoke side travels to Stamford Bridge on the back of three consecutive wins. Ahead of Sunday’s match at West Ham, Liverpool leads second-place Chelsea by two points while Manchester City is four points off the pace, with two games in hand. Here are five things to know about this weekend’s Premier League matches: MISFIRING CHELSEA Chelsea is slowing down, having lost three of its last five games after just one defeat in the previous 17 matches. The defeats against Crystal Palace and PSG have exposed Chelsea’s defensive weakness and the lack of quality in Mourinho’s current strike force. Chelsea is slowing down, having lost three of its last five games. Getty Images Following his poor display against Palace, Fernando Torres did not start the match in Paris as Mourinho picked Andre Schurrle to play in a central role rather than Demba Ba. On the other half of the pitch, PSG coach Laurent Blanc displayed a lineup featuring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, who scored the opening goal. “I’m not happy with my strikers’ performances, so I have to try things,” Mourinho said. “With Andre at least I know we have one more player to have the ball, we have one more player to associate with the other players. Football is also about scoring goals. That is for strikers, for real strikers. I had to try.” RESURGENT STOKE Tenth-placed Stoke is seven points from equaling its best Premier League points tally and is aiming to finish in the top half of the table for the first time since gaining promotion in 2008. “We can go to Chelsea with their confidence knocked and ours sky high, and we have to take advantage of that,” said in-form midfielder Stephen Ireland. “Hopefully we can capitalize and win there as well.” Stoke has not lost since a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City at the end of February and Mark Hughes’s team beat the Blues 3-2 last December. “Looking at the games we have left, it’s a real opportunity to pick up as many points as we possibly can,” Ireland said. “We can’t take our foot off the gas and hopefully we can break the records we have been set out to do.” AGUERO SET FOR RETURN Manchester City’s hopes of winning the title is in its own hands. But before wrapping up a second Premier League crown in the space of Read more here The post The Big EPL Preview: Chelsea out to halt slump; Everton host Arsenal appeared first on Nigeria Newsline.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 08:34:21 +0000
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