Stoke City - Chelsea

Stoke City welcome Chelsea in the first round of the Premiership season. The game will be played at Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent which is likely to remain relatively safe from the recent riots in the country and the kick off hour is 13:30 GMT. The Potters are usually a very difficult side to beat especially at home but I think the impulse in the Chelsea players after the good pre-season preparation and the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas will give them the edge.

Stoke City finished last season in 13th place but they had a very good campaign recording some prestigious victories at home. Moreover, they reached the FA Cup final and this secured them a place in Europe where they already eliminated the strong team of Hajduk Split after two wins with 1:0. Head coach Tony Pulis will rely on virtually the same players as last year and this means that the Potters will rely mainly on the physical power of their players. Stoke’s record at the end of the season was very good (6-2-1) and this will be a psychological boost for them.

Chelsea will start the new season looking for a new beginning with the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas who has already achieved quite a lot at Porto and he will be willing to do well at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea got back their striker Daniel Sturridge from Bolton but they have not got any new signings so Boas will have to rely on the old guns. Chelsea had a very good pre-season preparation where they let in only one goal against Rangers, also winning the Asia Barclays Cup trophy. Chelsea’s record away from home last season was not quite impressive (2-1-2) but they will have to improve right from the start if they are to challenge Manchester Untied for the league title.

Chelsea have won three and drawn one of the four games at Britannia and they look the favourites once again.

Stoke City

Chelsea

All	Home	Away	↓ Legend ↓	All	Home	Away
DLDLD	DDDWD	LLDLD	Form	WLWDL	WWLWD	LDDWL
38	19	19	Matches	38	19	19
14	10	17	League position	6	5	7
45	29	16	Points	64	39	25
20	13	20	League position attack	5	3	6
0.95	1.32	0.58	Average goals scored	1.71	2.16	1.26
34.2%	15.8%	52.6%	Failed to score '%'	21.1%	10.5%	31.6%
13	10	12	League position defence	6	12	3
1.39	1.05	1.74	Average goals defence	1.21	1.26	1.16
23.7%	31.6%	15.8%	Clean sheet '%'	26.3%	26.3%	26.3%
16	8	8	Over 2.5 goals	22	14	8
22	11	11	Under 2.5 goals	16	5	11
Stoke City  2:0  Fulham Biggest victory Chelsea  6:1  Queens Park Rangers Bolton Wanderers  5:0  Stoke City Biggest defeat Liverpool  4:1  Chelsea
28.4			Average squad age	25.87