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Chelsea takes on Sheffield at Stamford Bridge on August 31, 2019, as the 2019/20 English Premier League season continues to roll.
Chelsea
As one of the most successful football clubs in England, Chelsea has won a total of six Top Flight titles, 8 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 2 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, 2 UEFA Europa League titles, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 1 UEFA Champions League title. Five of their Premier League/First League titles have come in the last two decades, the last of which came in 2017 before Manchester City began to dominate the league. Chelsea finished third in the league last season and they look to improve on their finish this time around. The Blues head to this contest as the soccer betting favorites to beat Sheffield United.
These are the players for Chelsea as of August 4, 2019:
1 GK Kepa Arrizabalaga, 2 DF Antonio Rudiger, 3 DF Marcos Alonso, 5 MF Jorginho, 6 MF Danny Drinkwater, 7 MF N’Golo Kante, 8 MF Ross Barkley, 11 FW Pedro, 12 MF Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 13 GK Willy Caballero, 14 MF Tiemoue Bakayoko, 16 FW Kenedy, 17 MF Mateo Kovacic, 18 FW Olivier Giroud, 20 FW Callum Hudson-Odoi, 21 DF Davide Zappacosta, 22 FW Willian, 23 FW Michy Batshuayi, 27 DF Andreas Christiansen, 28 DF Cesar Azpilicueta (captain), 30 DF David Luz, 33 DF Emerson Palmieri, FW Tammy Abraham, MF Marco Van Ginkel, MF Mason Mount, FW Cristian Pulisic, and 5 DF Kurt Zouma.
Sheffield United
Sheffield United was established in 1889 and have called Bramall Lane as their home since their inception. They won the Football league in 1898 and the FA Cup a total of four times in their history. But since 1925 when they won the last of their FA Cups, the Blades have not won any major prize. They fell to financial troubles during the 1990s and were relegated to the First League following the 2011 season. It was then when Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud stepped in and bought 50% of the club in 2013 to give Sheffield United the financial muscle to return to prominence. In 2018-19, they stayed in the Top 6 of the Championship all season long to book a return to the Premiere League after a 12-year absence.
These are the players on Sheffield United’s roster as of August 2, 2019:
1 GK Dan Henderson ( on loan from Manchester United), 2 DF George Baldock, 3 DF Enda Stevens, 4 MF John Fleck, 5 DF Jack O’Connell, 6 DF Chris Basham, 7 MF John Lundstram, 8 MF Luke Freeman, 9 FW Oliver McBurnie, 10 FW Billy Sharp ( captain ), 11 FW Callum Robinson, 12 DF John Egan, 13 DF Jake Wright, 14 MF Ravel Morrison, 15 DF Phil Jagielka, 16 MF Oliver Norwood, 17 FW David McGoldrick, 18 DF Kieron Freeman, 19 DF Richard Stearman, 20 MF Kean Bryan, 21 MF Mark Duffy, 22 FW Lys Mousset, 23 MF Ben Osborn, 25 GK Simon Moore, 26 MF Ricky Holmes, DF Sam Graham, DF Ben Heneghan, DF Stephen Mallon, MF Samir Carruthers, FW Leon Clarke
Who Wins?
Chelsea has opened its 2019/20 campaign rather slowly. The Stamford Bridge side lost their opening match of the season to Manchester United 2-4 and finished with a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in their second game of the season. Finally, the Blues got their first win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Norwich City the last time out.
Tammy Abraham scored a pair of goals against Norwich City as Frank Lampard continues to allow his youngsters to play big minutes in the club’s matches. The Blues aren’t an elite form yet but they are surely starting to absorb Lampard’s philosophy and the offense is starting to shape up well. The use of attacking full-backs caused significant damage.
But while the offense showed its might, the defense has yet to prove their worth. There are too many question marks on the Chelsea defense which Manchester United breached to score four goals in the opener, two against Liverpool and two against Norwich City. Christian Pulisic came to Stamford Bridge with a hefty price tag but he still needs to do more to justify his payslip.
On the other hand, Sheffield United opened the season with a 1-1 draw over Bournemouth and then picked up the three points against Crystal Palace last week. In their last match though, they dropped their first game of the season, losing 1-2 to Leicester City. Chris Wilder’s use of the 3-5-2 formation using overlapping center-backs has worked well for United this season.
Although Chelsea are below Sheffield United in the EPL table right now, I’m confident in the Blues taking this match. It has been a slow start indeed but they seem to have picked it up in their last match and should be able to take care of business here. I’m picking Chelsea to beat Sheffield United on 8/31/19. Prediction: Chelsea
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