This is a massive game — not only for our season, fading confidence levels, frustration amongst the fanbase and hopes of ending that trophy drought, but also for Eddie Howe’s position at the club.
Personally, I am a little dissapointed to see sections of social media calling for a change as if he is THE problem behind our poor start to the season. For me, we’ve gone stale for a variety of issues after an awful summer and a total lack of first-team signings in 2024, although there’s no doubt that pressure will reach an all-time high if we are dumped out of the cup just days before Saturday’s clash with Arsenal.
On the flip side, I see this as a huge opportunity. This is a big chance for Howe to silence doubters, for the players to show they are still playing for the manager, to reach a quarter-final of the Carabao Cup and head into Saturday’s early kick-off against Arsenal with renewed hope.
It feels like a crossroads moment in our season and one of the biggest games of Howe’s tenure. Hopefully, performance levels improve, we take those chances we’ve often missed in recent weeks, mistakes are cut out and that ‘intensity’ is back in a huge match under the lights at St James’ Park
Howe’s pre-match comments
“It has been an important competition for us since we have been here and that has not changed. We will pick a team to win the game. Chelsea are a difficult opponent, I am sure they will make changes, but with those changes they will still be a very strong team. We are desperate to progress.”
“This is one game where they (Chelsea) could make wholesale changes or one or two changes, we don’t know what they will do. We need to plan for what we will do, we know there are certain aspects of our performance that we need to get right to win and that will be our focus.”
“(For us) Nobody is undroppable. Bruno has travelled a lot and has always been there for us. We need to make sure we manage him well. We need to really produce a…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/10/30/chelsea-h-pre-match-thoughts-team-news-possible-line-up-and-prediction/
Author : Olly Hawkins
Publish date : 2024-10-30 06:45:23
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.