Chelsea: Drop Eto’o, Deploy Schurrle And Look To Hit City On The Break

I do not envy Chelsea one bit right now. The capital club travel north to take on a free-flowing Manchester City side tonight in order to keep pace with the top two, and a win would take them above City in the Premier League table.

Jose Mourinho is a tactical man, and if there is anyone who I would put my money on to take City apart in their own back yard then it would probably be the Portuguese, but how should he go about approaching the game?

Firstly, the City defence is vulnerable to pace, and Chelsea certainly have pace in their ranks. For that reason I would take Samuel Eto’o out of the frame and replace him with Andre Schurrle, with Willian and Eden Hazard either side of him. The trio are able to defend but they have lightning speed and could hurt City on the break.

Which ties in with my next point – I would look to keep things tight and try to hit the hosts on the break. If Chelsea go to the Etihad and look to play an open, attacking game, I would expect them to get run over as the City squad is quite incredible.

Yaya Toure and Fernandinho hold the fort and let Navas, Silva and Negredo operate going forward, and there are few who can deal with that punch.

At the back, I would  keep John Terry as the man to partner Gary Cahill, and leave Luiz on the bench. The Brazilian has a reputation for being a bit of a liability at the back and for me shouldn’t be near the defence. Terry is a more reliable option for me.