Stoke City v Chelsea preview: Blues travel to Britannia without Jose Mourinho
Saturday 7 November 2015 16:36, UK
Chelsea take on Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday Night Football looking to stop their Premier League rot with Jose Mourinho still not sure what to do with himself during the game.
The champions are 15th after 11 games, and have won just one of their last five league matches, their worst start to a Premier League campaign
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Mourinho will not be able to attend the match due to a ban picked up for comments about match officials during the game against West Ham last month.
Only an appeal would have allowed Mourinho to enter the ground, but he has accepted the sanction.
"It's stupid to fight a fight that you know you have already lost." he said. "Maybe I will sit on the street corner with my iPad. You can imagine that it's not easy. You can imagine how I feel. And I don't want to speak a lot about it.
"I have no plans. Maybe I don't even watch the game. I cannot [have] contact with the game, so what's the point?"
Mourinho reportedly flouted a UEFA-imposed stadium ban by hiding in a laundry skip during his first spell with Chelsea.
He refused to confirm or deny the episode on Friday, but said he was not tempted to do something similar at Stoke.
"No. No temptation," Mourinho added. "I travel with them [the team]. And I will be with them until the moment somebody stops me. I have to get out [of the bus] before [it reaches the stadium]."
The Chelsea players will wear black armbands during the game following the death of their former manager Bobby Campbell.
Stoke, who are without a win in their last two league games, beat the Blues last week on penalties in the Capital One Cup fourth round following a 1-1 draw.
Team news
Geoff Cameron is back in the Stoke squad having missed the last two games because of a thigh problem.
Fellow defender Marc Muniesa (hamstring) is expected to miss a couple more weeks and keeper Shay Given (knee) is also out but Phil Bardsley returns after serving a one-match ban.
Branislav Ivanovic is in contention to return for Chelsea. The right-back has been absent in recent weeks with a hamstring injury, but is available again.
Striker Radamel Falcao is out for a few weeks after sustaining an undisclosed injury in training on Tuesday, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (knee) remains sidelined.
Opta stats
Mark Hughes' side have won just one of their last five Premier League games at the Britannia Stadium (W1 D1 L3).
Chelsea have won just two of their last 10 away matches in all competitions (W2 D3 L5) and one of the draws ended in the shoot out defeat by Stoke.
Loic Remy has scored three goals in three Premier League appearances against Stoke City.
Only Sunderland (69) have allowed more shots on target against them than Chelsea (63) in the Premier League this season.
Jack Butland has made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League this season (46).
Mourinho has lost six league games already in 2015-16 - he has never lost seven games in a single league season as a manager.
Chelsea have already conceded more goals this season (22) than they managed in the whole of 2004-05 (15) and the same number as in the whole of 2005-06 (22).
If Chelsea lose this game, it'll be the first time that they have lost seven of their opening 12 games in a top-flight season since 1978-79; a season that they were relegated.
Merson's prediction
This is a weird game. What happens if Chelsea win 5-0 without Mourinho in the stadium? That would raise some interesting questions. I expect Chelsea to win this one. It's bound to be a hard game, like most games at the Britannia are, but you have to remember Stoke got rinsed by Watford two weeks ago. Chelsea have to score first though.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (Sky Bet odds 15/2)
Betting
Chelsea are marginally odds-against at 21/10 with Sky Bet for the victory as Stoke are considered 13/5 outsiders despite their visitors' poor form. The Blues drifted out to 66/1 to retain their Premier League title and 2/1 just to secure a top-four finish after last weekend's Liverpool loss, while Mourinho is the favourite to be the next top-flight manager to leave their job. Diego Costa heads the first goalscorer betting at 4/1 while Jonathan Walters and Mame Biram Diouf share favouritism from the Potters' side of the market at 7/1 apiece.
