Stoke v Chelsea: Preview and Predictions

Next month Stoke will be able to boast having not lost a league match at home for a year – a record a select few teams in the history of the Premier League have achieved.

          Chelsea, in their last league match, were bettered by QPR and that will give Stoke added confidence; after all, they came very close to gaining a point at Stamford Bridge earlier this season and matched Chelsea for most of the encounter.

           Demba Ba having signed for Chelsea has strengthened the squad will give opportunities to rest the heavily criticised Torres.  Chelsea, in spite of inconsistency this season, are the European Champions and have players fighting for places, and in the case of  Frank Lampard, pride.

          After a solid display in the FA Cup against a recently solid Southampton, evens for an away win seems a relatively fair price to play with, regardless of the Stoke record – which has to be broken at some stage.  Stoke will have to be defensively minded to keep hold of their record, but the performance against Man City recently suggests Chelsea may be able to come away with a win if they can perform as a team.

        

Stoke v Chelsea: Verdict – Chelsea Evens