How did Guus Hiddink get on in his first game back at Stamford Bridge?

Guus Hiddink was back in the Chelsea dugout at the start of his second stint in charge at Stamford Bridge, with Watford the opposition. The veteran Dutchman has taken over until the end of the season following Jose Mourinho’s sacking last week.

Here’s a look at how he fared in his first game back at the helm.

The line-up

Hiddink made just one change to the starting line-up chosen by caretaker boss Steve Holland for last weekend’s win over Sunderland, with Gary Cahill preferred to Kurt Zouma alongside captain John Terry at centre-half.

Playmaker Eden Hazard, who missed out last Saturday with a hip injury, was fit enough for a place on the bench.

The tactics

(Paul Harding/PA)

Little discernible change from those of Mourinho. Diego Costa was up front on his own, Willian, Pedro and Oscar buzzed around behind him. Cesc Fabregas and Memanja Matic shielded the back four. The attacking play had a touch more urgency about it, though.

Motivation

(Matt Dunham/AP)

Chelsea raced out of the traps with Costa heading an early chance over. Oscar, not renowned as a midfield hardman, looked in the mood with a crunching tackle on Jose Jurado. But Chelsea still looked edgy when the game was not going their way.

In the dugout

(Matt Dunham/AP)

Hiddink looked a little embarrassed as he was re-introduced to the Stamford Bridge crowd to a warm reception. He enjoyed a friendly exchange with Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores, whom he once managed at Valencia. Unlike his predecessor at times, Hiddink remained calm in the dugout, rarely venturing out of his seat – not even when Nemanja Matic’s needless handball gifted Watford a way back into the game.

Substitutions

(Matt Dunham/AP)

Fabregas was hauled off at half-time after a poor first half, with Jon Obi Mikel brought on to shore up the midfield. Hazard came on with 15 minutes left and won the penalty which should have been decisive.

Impact

(Paul Harding/PA)

Managed to coax a performance out of Diego Costa, who finally looked something back to his menacing best and came up with two top-class goals. But Chelsea’s weaknesses in defence will not be solved overnight, while too many players are still not hitting anything like the heights of last season.

The verdict?

(Paul Harding/PA)

Things would have looked a lot brighter had Oscar not skied a late penalty to win the game. Instead a 2-2 draw does little to suggest Chelsea are ready to mount a challenge for the top four. Costa was the bright spot, though, and if other players follow suit Chelsea could yet salvage something from their season.

Hiddink drops Hazard, Mikel, Zouma to bench

Guus Hiddink makes just one change to the side which beat Sunderland 3-1 a week ago for his first game back in charge of the Blues, as Gary Cahill replaces Kurt Zouma in central defence.

Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic start as the two deep-lying midfielders, while Willian, Oscar and Pedro are tasked with supplying lone striker Diego Costa.

Having missed last week’s game through injury, Eden Hazard starts on the bench.

Nathan Ake, on loan at Watford from Stamford Bridge, is ineligible to play in today’s game.

Chelsea are expected to line up in the following 4-2-3-1 formation:

Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Pedro; Diego Costa.

Substitutes: Begovic, Baba, Zouma, Mikel, Ramires, Hazard, Remy .

Watford are expected to line up in the following 4-2-3-1 formation:

Gomes; Nyom, Cathcart, Britos, Holebas; Capoue, Watson; Abdi, Deeney (c), Jurado; Ighalo.

Substitutes: Arlauskis, Prodl, Guedioura, Berghuis, Anya, Behrami, Diamanti.

Today’s referee is Andre Marriner.

Kurt Zouma: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is a different manager behind closed doors

Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma insists Jose Mourinho is a very different manager behind closed doors. The defending Premier League champions have endured their worst Premier League start in 34 years, losing four of their eight league games so far this season.

The club's worrying slump reached new depths last Saturday (3 October) when they were dismantled by Southampton at home, with Mourinho urging the club to sack him if they feel that is the right decision in a seven-minute post-match rant. The Chelsea board have given the under-fire manager their full-backing however and Zouma has also come out to praise his boss, insisting he rarely gets things wrong in his pre-match preparations.

Speaking to French newspaper Le Parisien (as translated by ESPN), Zouma explained Mourinho is not the sort of manager to let rip at his players once he has them back in the dressing room. "That's when he is on the sidelines but he never tears strips off us," Zouma said. "It wouldn't be any use – we are already rock bottom after a defeat. And then he is incredibly intelligent – he knows everything. I have never seen him get an opposing team wrong. I don't know how he does it.

"Every goal we concede, he will have shown it to us before on video. Then he will say to us: 'I warned you.' He leaves nothing to chance – it is really the best. But sometimes in football, there are times when everything goes wrong."

Zouma, who has previously said the presence of the Portuguese coach at Stamford Bridge was integral to his move to the Premier League side, has featured seven times for the club during their rotten start of the season. The club have already conceded 17 goals this term, having only let 32 past them during the entire 2014-15 season, and the former Saint-Etienne defender admits the slump has hit the club hard.

"After defeats, there is a strange atmosphere in the dressing room," Zouma continued. There is complete silence – no one opens their mouth. Mourinho has taught us to hate defeat. We are steeped in that culture so it hard for us."

Kurt Zouma lifts the lid on what Jose Mourinho is really like at Chelsea

KURT ZOUMA has revealed Jose Mourinho is a very different character behind closed doors.

The Chelsea boss is renowned for being animated on the touchline and doesn't mind wearing his heart on his sleeve at times.

However, centre-back Zouma admits Mourinho is a very different man away from prying eyes and doesn't rip into his players as expected.

He told French newspaper Le Parisien: "That's when he is on the sidelines but he never tears strips off us.

"It wouldn't be any use – we are already rock bottom after a defeat. And then he is incredibly intelligent – he knows everything. 

"I have never seen him get an opposing team wrong. I don't know how he does it.

"Every goal we concede, he will have shown it to us before on video. Then he will say to us: 'I warned you.'

"He leaves nothing to chance – it is really the best. But sometimes in football, there are times when everything goes wrong."

Chelsea are currently enduring a terrible season, and currently sitting sixteenth in the table with the joint second worst defensive record in the league.

And Zouma has confessed the poor form is starting to take its toll on the squad and it is making thing 'hard' in the dressing room.

He added: "After defeats, there is a strange atmosphere in the dressing room.

"There is complete silence – no one opens their mouth. Mourinho has taught us to hate defeat. We are steeped in that culture so it hard for us."

Predicted Chelsea lineup against Aston Villa: Ruben ready, four options for right back

Two weeks without proper club football has not made any of the decisions facing Jose Mourinho ahead of tomorrow's match any easier.  If anything, they made them a bit harder, as no one has really stood out.

"What I analysed in this period was that no player was better in the national team than they are with us, so it's not their habitat which is making them play better or worse. At this moment they are what they are, which gives me total confidence that it will be here that we will improve them and they will go back to their normality."

Which would hint at the tried and true, the same old-same old from Mourinho against Villa, right?  Will the real Chelsea title winners please stand up?  Well, not so fast, at least in a couple regards.

What we can be sure of are starts for Asmir Begovic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma, Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.  Young Loftus-Cheek was already penciled into the starting lineup following the Southampton loss, and at least so far, Mourinho has not gone back on his word.

"Ruben has been with us since January, working with us every day, having the opportunity to play some matches, having an evolution physically, mentally, tactically. I think he's going to be a really top player. He's ready."

Of the three starts that RLC has made this season, including the pre-season, two have come alongside John Obi Mikel, and one, in the Champions League, alongside Cesc Fabregas.  With Nemanja Matic out of form and in the doghouse -- though not permanently -- and Cesc carrying a somewhat undroppable status, it is he who's likely to start alongside the teenager.  Fabregas could of course push up to the no.10 spot, which would open another spot in central midfield for someone like Ramires, who had been training with the squad throughout the last two weeks.  Ramires could also start at the right back instead of the injured Branislav Ivanovic, but that seems a fairly far-fetched option.

"I have four solutions: I have Azpilicueta, I have the adaptation of Zouma or Ramires and I have Ola Aina, an 18-year-old who has never played a Premier League game but he's a boy with lots of potential. He's also an option."

With Baba Rahman unlikely to start in the Premier League (though I have hopes of seeing him in the Champions League in Kiev), it's quite likely that true to rumors, Kurt Zouma will deputize for our much maligned right back.  That's assuming Gary Cahill isn't suffering any ill effects of his apparently problematic back.

Zouma probably won't offer too much going forward, which I think might weigh in favor of a start for Pedro on the right wing, but Willian's got the goal-scoring touch lately and that should be enough to guarantee him a start as well.  This might leave Oscar out on the bench, but I wouldn't really be surprised by any combination of our attacking midfielders at this point as we search for answers.

With that in mind, here's our predicted lineup:

4-2-3-1:
Begovic | Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Zouma | Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas | Hazard, Willian, Pedro | Costa

In the community voting, you guys selected the following starting XI:

4-2-3-1:
Begovic | Baba, Cahill, Zouma, Azpilicueta | Loftus-Cheek, Matic/Fabregas (too close to call) | Hazard, Oscar, Willian | Costa

Which wouldn't be a bad prediction, had Mourinho hinted at any sort of action for Baba.  But he hasn't.  So, I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Mourinho has found his Ivanovic replacement in Kurt Zouma

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will consider starting Kurt Zouma as his right back in place of the injured Serbian full back Branislav Ivanovic.

Chelsea play Aston Villa this weekend in a must win encounter and Mourinho will use Zouma as the makeshift full back instead of going for the new signing Baba Rahman.

Baba Rahman joined Chelsea from Augsburg this summer and is yet to make his Premier League debut. The African full back has played for Chelsea in the Champions league and impressed in his first start for the club against Tel Aviv.

According to The Telegraph, Jose Mourinho is set to bank on Zouma’s Premier League experience against Villa and play him as the right back. Azpilicueta is set to continue as the left and John Terry will partner Gary Cahill at the heart of the Chelsea defence.

It is a surprising decision considering Zouma is a centre back and Baba Rahman has not got his Premier League debut yet. Everyone would have expected the left back to get his first league start against Villa.

Ivanovic picked up a hamstring injury during the international break and has been ruled out for three weeks.

This could well be the final season for Ivanovic at Chelsea. He is nearing the end of his contract at Chelsea and the Premier League champions are yet to offer him an extension.

The Serbian has been abysmal so far and Chelsea fans are unlikely to miss him. Also the likes of Zouma and Baba Rahman should get more playing time over the next few weeks.

If the young defenders manage to impress Mourinho over the next few games, it could well be curtains for Ivanovic at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea vs Aston Villa: Jose Mourinho considering Kurt Zouma at right-back rather than play £14m Baba Rahman

Starting right-back Branislav Ivanovic has been ruled out for three weeks.

Jose Mourinho will consider starting centre-back Kurt Zouma out of position rather than risk £14million summer signing Baba Rahman for Chelsea's crucial clash against Aston Villa.

Usual right-back Branislav Ivanovic has been ruled out for the next three weeks after picking up a hamstring injury while on international duty for Serbia.

Along with Cesar Azpilicueta, a right-back who has spent the last 18 months on the left, the only other full back in the first-team is Baba Rahman, the 21-year-old Ghanaian who was bought from Augsburg at the end of August. With Ivanovic out, the obvious switch would be to move the Spaniard back to the right and bring in Rahman on the left.

But with Chelsea struggling in 16th position in the Premier League, Mourinho may not risk the youngster, who has only played against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Walsall, for the must-win game at Stamford Bridge, instead keeping Azpilicueta on the left and playing the powerful Kurt Zouma at right-back, where he has played on occasion previously.

Kurt Zouma is already pushing for a place in the middle

There were calls from Chelsea supporters and critics to drop Ivanovic from the team after a desperate start to the season that has seen his form collapse. The best right-back in the division last season, where he was named to the PFA Team of the Year, Ivanovic has been awful in eight matches this season, with particularly bad performances against Swansea City, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Everton and Southampton.

But when asked why Rahman was yet to come in for the Serbian, Mourinho said he was not yet ready, while Chelsea would be "dead" on set-pieces without Ivanovic.

"Baba Rahman arrived in the last day (of the transfer window) and he doesn’t know what it is to play in this kind of championship. He had no pre-season with us. He needs time to learn and adapt," said Mourinho after the Southampton defeat.

"At the same time, every team except Maccabi Tel Aviv is a team of giants. If you don’t have a minimum of five tall players good in the air, you are dead on set-pieces. When I play Azpilicueta on the right and Baba on the left, I have only three. So we have to think about all the details."

Zouma, 20, is already pushing John Terry and Gary Cahill for a starting spot in the middle and has exceeded expectations in his first seasons with the Blues.

His pace, strength and athleticism make him a versatile player - he has played in midfield and at both full-back positions for the Blues - while the aerial threat of Rudy Gestede could mean Mourinho wants additional height in the team.