Now that Jose Mourinho is no longer at Stamford Bridge and interim manager Guus Hiddink is in place, fans will be hoping for a late Christmas present of three points when Chelsea takes on Watford this afternoon in West London.
Chelsea will be looking to restart their season with a win this afternoon before taking on Manchester United and Crystal Palace over the busy holiday period.
As for Watford they are fresh off a convincing 3-0 win over Liverpool, and pose a real threat in the form of Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo and English player, Troy Deeney.
Hiddink is well aware of the threat posed by the duo saying: “I have a lot of respect for Watford. The team is very disciplined and have two very strong strikers in (Odion) Ighalo and (Troy) Deeney.”
“The strikers are very dangerous and have shown that frequently this season.
As far as injuries are concerned the only player doubtful is Eden Hazard, despite the Belgium having trained on Wednesday.
Our best guess is that Hiddink, seeing Chelsea win last time out against Sunderland is not going to be making any dramatic changes just yet, so will probably stick with the same player’s assistant Steve Holland went with.
It has to be said that several player actually appeared to be putting more effort in against the Black Cats, with Oscar looking happier than he has in a while and Spaniard Pedro finding the back of the net for the first time since his debut.
Despite Cesc Fabregas doing well last time out we feel that if any change was to be made it would be dropping the former Arsenal and Barcelona man in favour of Ramires to partner Nemanja Matic given Watford’s threat going forward.
Have a look at our proposed starting XI and see if you agree with us.
