Chelsea
return to Stamford Bridge looking to bounce back from their first defeat of
the season against Newcastle last Saturday, and face a Hull side with just
one win since the opening day of the campaign.
With the 'Invincible' talk over and done with, Jose Mourinho will be looking
to extend Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League after Manchester
City cut it to three points last weekend.
Their opponents Hull have picked up just four points from a possible 24, and
have never beaten Chelsea in the Premier League.
Mourinho would have struggled to ask for a better opponent to return to
form, with the pressure on Hull manager Steve Bruce having seen his side
score just twice in the last six games.
Chelsea made several changes for the the 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon on
Wednesday and can now call upon the fresh legs of John Terry, Eden Hazard
and Willian.
Team news
Goalkeeper Petr Cech will make his first Premier League start of the season
after Thibaut Courtois suffered a minor injury in training. Playmaker Cesc
Fabregas will serve a one-match suspension as Mourinho reverts to the
majority of his first-choice line-up.
Hull captain Curtis Davies could be handed a recall for the trip to Stamford
Bridge. The centre-half has been dropped for the last two matches, but
manager Bruce could revert to a back three, opening up a vacancy at the
back. Gaston Ramirez has completed a three-game ban, but fellow loanee Hatem
Ben Arfa is set to continue his exile from the squad.
Opta Stats
Loic Remy and Didier Drogba have both scored three goals in three Barclays
Premier League games against Hull City.
The Tigers have never won away at Chelsea in any competition (L15 D5 W0).
Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 10 games against Hull City in all
competitions (W8 D2), including all six in the Barclays Premier League (W4
D2 L0).
Allan McGregor has saved all three of the penalties he has faced in the
Premier League – no goalkeeper has ever saved four consecutive penalties
that he’s faced in the competition.
This is Hull City’s worst start to a Premier League season (13 points), even
lower than the 16 they accrued after 15 games in 2009-10 when they were
relegated.
Merson's prediction
"This is going to be a walk in the park. I can’t see anything other than a
home win. Last week’s defeat at Newcastle was down to Matic not playing - it
doesn’t matter how many world class players you’ve got, if one is not in
that machine it makes a difference.
"I thought Hull were quite lucky last week – they got a good result at
Everton and then drew 0-0 at home to West Brom who, had they scored the
early penalty, would have gone on to win the game.
"At the moment Hull are struggling, which I am quite surprised about really.
I think they are a decent team but Chelsea will have too much for them."
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0
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