Vital Walsall - Chelsea - A Fans View

We contacted ChelseaStats earlier with some probing questions about Chelsea, Jose Mourinho and Wednesday’s match. Here are the answers.

Name: ChelseaStats Age: 32

How long have you supported Chelsea and what was your first match? Well my first game was 1989/90 in the FA Cup against Crewe, a 1-1 draw. I can’t remember too much before that time so lets say that’s the day i became a supporter.

Did the club achieve what you expected in the summer transfer window? In most part yes, we tried to replace like for like with our goalkeeper, left back, striker and promoted some youth into the squad. We signed two centre-backs but of course the big name one was missing. I’m happy with the team though!

What would you say is Chelsea’s weak link? We’ve struggled this season between our right back and centre back and the gap in midfield in front of this area, it’s been found out and targeted often already this season. Against Arsenal we looked to have fixed that, by having Oscar back in the team.

Has the club improved under Mourinho during his second spell opposed to his first? This is quite a tough question. Mourinho’s record in his first spell was phenomenal, but Chelsea did finish second under Ranieri and did make a champions league semi-final. The step up was a huge moment for us, but we were not that far away. This time round Mourinho inherited a team that had won the Europa League and had slipped to third in the league and lower in our Champions League winning season. The work he has done to get us back to being Champions was probably tougher this time round and arguably with a weaker team now then we had back then. His record in terms of results over both spells are pretty similar though

How do you feel you have started this season? Ok actually, I know three defeats, four if you include the community shield sounds bad, but losing to City away, Everton away are not that unusual for us, or many teams. We actually improved on last season by beating West Brom away but had a bad day in losing to Palace at home, they fully deserved their win, but that’s the only result that has concerned me. We seem to have addressed the problems and back on track. I think it’s much about the types of fixtures we’ve had. A lot of our bogey sides (Newcastle away coming up too) that have been played. spaced out over the season it wouldn’t look bad at all, but it’s all happened early. We’ve got difficult games out the way whereas other sides will have their tricky games to come.

What are your expectations for this year following the poor start? I do think City have improved their squad very well and will probably win the league now, but I still expect us to finish second and I’d expect a good run in either/both domestic cups and we should be aiming for Champions League semi-finals every season. I think you need a bit of luck at that stage if you are going to go and win it, but we are arguably in the top 6 sides in Europe so aiming for the final 4 places seems reasonable and logical.

What Chelsea team can we expect on Wednesday night? A few big names, a few squad players and a few kids, with security on the bench if we need it. Lotus-Cheek should start, I think Mourinho has said Terry will play. Remy too. Hopefully you’ll get to see Kenedy who looks quick and strong. Baba Rahman should feature too as he acclimatises to English football.

What do you know of Walsall and have you ever visited the Banks’s Stadium? Never been to the ground but have been to the area a few times. I know you have Lalkovic and kept an eye on results when he was originally on loan. I also was pleased to see you offer £46 season tickets to kids a few years back with a cash-back when a game was attended. I think that should have had more coverage and should be applauded and other clubs following. I don’t know much about the players but can see the side are second behind Burton in the table

And finally….match prediction? I think a 3-1 win, with the third coming late on. so a reasonably edgy close game. We never seem to make things easy for ourselves. Best of luck for the rest of the season.

Vital Walsall wishes to thank ChelseaStats for their detailed and honest answers to our questions.

We wish them the best of luck for the rest of the season…..after Wednesday of course!

Published 15 September 2015, with 793 words.