Ramires will likely be first choice to begin with. No better game for van Ginkel's first league start IMO. I really like what I saw from him after his initial pre-season appearance.

Essien and Lampard as back-up, no idea about Mikel. Still hoping someone will come in for him, but I've been hoping for a long time now.

am so excited for today,can't wait to the match start's. It's been a long summer
Place will be buzzing and we will hopefully get a great match and result. Roll on 4pm.

Cech - Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, A Cole - Ramires, Lampard, De Bruyne, Oscar, Hazard - Torres.

Would have started with Mata!

No Lukaku despite the great pre-season form? Torres selected once again by virtue of the fact we paid £50m for him.

Not long left.

Mata isn't match fit. Decent attacking line-up even without Mata. Not too sure about Lamps and Rami though....Not the best midfield pairing we have.

Lamaprd and Ramires are awful together. Don't have the energy to be pissed off with seeing Torres start.

Well if Torres is playing pants, at least we know Mou will have no trouble subbing him off.

Would have been nice to see Lukaku start, but Torres has to have a chance I suppose.

Very true. Mourinho has no qualms about subbing players.

Be funny if he does it after 5 minutes like most of us would

We now have a manager who plays to win, not to lose.

No defenders on the bench for you, except Essien I guess who played right back at Madrid. They all injured?

Luiz is injured, Azpil is tired. (which is weird, long flight or not) Dunno about Bertrand.

Very strange decision after the pre-season games. You would have thought this was the perfect game for Lukaku.
Oh well, we will probably see him on at some stage, along with Mata and Van Ginkel ?

Luiz is ruled out, Azpilicueta is being rested after a long journey midweek. The only other one's Bertrand, no idea why he isn't on the bench.

EDIT - Ninjybear beat me to it

Seems a bit risky if any need to be replaced for whatever reason.

Torres starting is a bit meh, but i guess he needs a chance to see if he has any chance of being a decent player. I would rather Lukaku started though. Really excited to see De Bruyne play in a proper game. Mata on the bench isnt a surprise, i dont think he is 100% match fit yet after a long summer with spain in brazil and missing a lot of preseason. He will probably be eased back in the first few games.

As much as our line-up is a bit disappointing, how great is it to have such a strong bench again? Still a few players missing, too.

I suppose Essien would come in at RB, then just shuffle the rest around. No cover at LB though ?

What an ovation for Jose.

Could go 3 at the back if Cole had to go off. I think Essien played LB last season as well...not sure how many games he actually played in CM.

Penalty!

He may have had one game at left back, but I seem to remember him playing a few games at right back for Madrid.

Oh Frank!