All Activity

That’ll be Tonali’s job.

Wonder whether the formation we used for the Arsenal home semi final is an option, playing 3 CBs with one of them specifically to man mark Palmer.

Thought he got into good positions then it fizzled. A couple nice interceptions too.

If Villa don't drop points against Bournemouth then yes I reckon they go on an win the next two. They've lucked out actually by facing Spurs and Man Utd at just the right time in their season and whilst they're both shit.

I mean he's not bad, but £50 million?

Forest are 4 behind with 12 points to play for though 3 of those would have to be at Chelsea's expense.

Had it going down to the wire a month back, 1 point in it. Worst of either world really, whether we qualify or not it means brutality ahead. (Didn't have Chelsea to beat Liverpool in the calculations) 5 more for Villa 8 for Forest.

Agree, I thought he was ok. One of the least of our problems (dive aside). It's a shame: a) he can't play in a 10 style role b) we're unwilling to try (possibly because of a) Him just drifting left all the time can be predictable but I guess he's trying to get himself comfortable in the side again. Hoping Chelsea give him more space to run into.

Palace we battered, they were shite. No way around it. Man U was a closer game than the score line makes out. Think they might have edged possession, shots and shot on target were about the same iirc. Don't think there was much disparity in XG either. But we were way more clinical but we certainly didn't dominate them for 90 mins like we did Palace. Surely you must remember that? I'll not include the Villa game because we were absolutely abject and I wouldn't put much stock in the Palace game because they were. We're not using the ball as well as team with Trips, Schar, Bruno, Sandro, Gordon/Barnes and Isak should be doing. There's nothing polemic about that opinion. It's not heresy the way some happy clappers (not you btw) on here treat anything less than fawning praise. Just feel we don't control the ball sometimes when we need to and we can definitely struggle if a team defends deeper because we're not particularly set up for incisive passing. We very 'down the flanks' and we seem best in transition. We're leaving Isak a bit isolated as a result and he doesn't look that useful in the box on his own surrounded by defenders. He hasn't the power or the leap to make the best out of that. It's not his optimal situation. Which is fine, he's still great in situations that suit him better. But we're not engineering them enough imho. Others may view it differently and your view I will always read as it tends to be balanced and thoughtful. Others, not so much.

I’ve got full belief in Howe. But this game has become a lot trickier with Chelsea picking up confidence, form and players back from injury while we’re lost one. I just back Howe in a big game like this at home.

Schrodinger's Celebration

Must say, I'm not as confident as I was a couple of weeks ago. That said, much like ourselves, Chelsea struggle away to top half teams losing at Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Villa and Brighton. While they've won a few they've looked far from convincing. If we're on it and I'm sure we will be, we'll beat these, but I think it'll be a tight, nervous affair. 2-1.

This is going to be a much harder game than I think most anticipated awhile ago. Chelsea even when playing poorly kept getting results and they seem to be coming into some form at the perfect time. They also have fast athletic players that can cause us problems. We need one of those top Howe era games where everyone is firing to get over the line here. Unfortunately however we seems to be running out of steam slightly and Joelinton will be a big miss for this, not just his physicality but his mentality. Really hope the lads have one more huge performance in them. Wish it was a night game, could do with a hostile environment for Chelsea players.

You can vote for his goal for GOTM on BBC Sport website now for the next 30 mins

Not much has changed. Need to beat Chelsea and Everton. Good point in the end. I’m 90% confident 68 points gets it done. I’m 99.9% certain 69 points gets it done. We are on track for 69 points. Massive game next week.

Yeh he did more good things than Bruno or Tonali tbf

The brief was always to win the home games and anything from the away games was a bonus. This is a bonus and if we do our job and beat Chelsea next week we have a cushion with our goal difference that in two games should be too difficult for Chelsea and Villa to completely overhaul.

It was meant to be 12.30 on Saturday, but they shifted it with Chelsea being in the EC semifinal.

I know it was good for us and everything but what the hell was Ayari doing sticking his hand out like that. Mental decision.

He needs a couple of big performances before the season is out. He's front and centre to be hounded out. While Barnes, Tino, Pope, Tonali, Gordon, Murphy, Trippier, Dubravka, Hall, Burn and Willock (the first time) have all shaken it off with a decent run in the team, the constant berating of his defensive work and sighing at any misplaced passes could sap any remaining confidence he does have.

They were checking an offside as well. as if anyone being offside would have made any difference at all.

Why did it take so long to clear the penalty decision? Ridiculous.

We know Bruno and Tonali are good enough for this club. Willock has been struggling for form for two years now and is one of our few non-crucial assets that someone might actually buy. He wasn't the worst today but IMO once again did nothing to prove we should try to keep him.

Nothing more than copium. He's just off it atm

I remember Howe saying when we played Arsenal in the semi second leg he needed to find a way to get the best players in the team. I think this game should adopt that approach, Botman and Gordon in.