Who apart from us is going to win it?

Utd would need a massive improvement a near impossible one (although they will challenge) and City have not started to rebuild yet.

Apart from us nobody should really be ready to. I would be very shocked if anyone improved to such a extent that they could overtake us today never mind with the improvements we should make this summer

I think Man Utd will improve dramatically next season. They will spend big money and I do rate Louis van Gaal as a manager. I like his no-nonsense style, and he won't tolerate any deadweights.

Man City (at least on paper) should have retained their title this year. If we had switched managers (heaven forbid) with City in the summer, Jose would have taken them to the title, probably by a similar margin. That's how important Mourinho is to us, at least in my opinion. As you say, they now have too many players coming close to the end of their shelf life. Jose could squeeze another season out of them, but he is a bit special.

Arsenal aren't too far away in my opinion. But they do have this tremendous loyalty to Wenger..which I can understand, he did completely transform the club. He still appears to be the only manager in the world who hates spending money, I'm not sure whether to admire that or not, You just can't imagine him going for the couple of big signings that would take Arsenal to the next level. He'll still spend the summer looking for bargains. Then if he finds one, someone will just step in and outbid him. It's amazing they got Sanchez really, was Wenger away on holiday when they signed him ?

We will start as favourites next season!

City have not become a bad team overnight and I expect them to be the big dangers next season.
Arsenal are a keeper, top striker and a strong midfield leader away from being serious contenders.
Utd should be contenders.
Liverpool will be looking to get into the top four rather than thinking about being title winners.

For us, i want more firepower and creativity from midfield. We are relying far too much on Hazzard.
Also, how longterm is Costa's hamstring problem? Is he another Michael Owen?
Defo don"t want us to blow a load on the overpriced Pogba.

Btw. I wonder what kind of reception Gerrard will get from our fans? I think he deserves a good one.

Utd will improve next season and I see them as "contenders" but not sure he will get all the new players and the current players playing his system etc that quickly. Season after? It's Game On and we will see the two managers going head to head and it will be a very interesting battle.

I do think Arsenal will spend money but it will be on the wrong type. It will be players who play the "Arsenal" way and not the type of players needed to win. While I agree to some extent they not far away but on the same hand they are because Wenger has his idea of what football should be in a world where it's not actually like that. Not only have they got to bring players in with big price tags (which is not the Arsenal way) they got to bring in a different type of player (not players in the Arsenal mould) they have to play in a different way and doing that while going toe to toe with us. It's a big ask.


City are maybe the biggest threat because they so unpredictable. It's harder to come up with a game plan when they are involved as you just don't know what they will do.

Liverpool can be looking into anything they want to. What actually happens will be very different.

I not heard any team news yet but I not sure Gerrard will play.

I will say if he there or not, Gerrard will get the reception he deserves

Absolutely agree.

Lets hope we give the chelsea performance he deserves too!

Breaking: RLC to start today!

Good to see QPR being relegated today.

And frank has just missed a sitter!

Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Filipe Luis; Mikel, Loftus-Cheek; Willian, Fabregas, Hazard; Remy

Beeney, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ake, Matic, Cuadrado, Drogba

Good to see Jose make the smart decision to play RLC and Zouma.

Remy is back.

I wonder what formation we will line up with?

Courtouis
Ivan Zouma Terru Luis
Mikel
Willian Cesc Hazard
Remy RLC

Great start

zouma off, cahill on

Bollocks.

Nice marking FFS.

Its the mikel factor!

lets remember its our b team thats playing.

Well, not quite. But I agree with you about Mikel. Everyone likes the guy, but it's time we moved him on. His only real value now is to defend a lead if we decide to pack our defence for ten minutes. Is that worth a squad place in a team like Chelsea ?
Pleased with Loftus-Cheek, several strong challenges and used the ball intelligently, he looks mature for his age. I'd like to see Matic on so that he has a quality DM partner to work with.

.....

Agree about Loftus-Cheek though. I'd also like to see Matic next to him.

Matic is about to come on

Oops, thanks. Corrected above.

For Loftus-Cheek

Still, a brilliant hour for the kid.

Good job its already won!-

Yes, a pity. A Matic/Loftus-Cheek partnership looks like something we can look foward to in the future.

Why doesn't Remy take a chance and get in the box more often ? He's missed the opportunity of some bloody good crosses from Willian, Hazard etc.

its just been a training match for us - already on the beech.

A relatively meaningless game for Chelsea in the end. Loftus Cheek did OK and wisely kept things simple. Mikel looked good as well. Maybe his Chelsea days aren't over.

For me Sterling was motm, and looked worth the £40 to 50 million people say his price tag would be.

Next season Chelsea HAVE to invest in another world class striker. Griezmann has been quoted at £45 million. Koke would be a nice addition as well and his price tag is around £40 million. The club would have to sell to buy, and I think Oscar would be on his way. Koke is very good defensively and can also distribute very well.

Despite being champions, the club can't stand still and need to keep improving.

Yes, end of season stuff for us really. I don't think we learnt much from the game apart from confirming that Loftus-Cheek looks ready to step up and challenge for a place.
Another 10 minutes for Cuadrado, and he still looks very lightweight to me. We need to feed him up and get him on the weights, otherwise he's going to get eaten alive in the PL.