Preview: Stoke City vs. Chelsea

Chelsea face a difficult trip to the Britannia Stadium to face Stoke City following the disappointing Carling Cup semi-final defeat to Swansea City.

Stoke have four draws from six in all competitions and most recently in the Premier League they were defeated 3-0 at Manchester City.

Chelsea were stopped on the good league run with a shock home defeat to Queens Park Rangers on January 2 to leave them fourth in the Premier League.

There are injuries persisting in Tony Pulis's squad, with Marc Wilson and Rory Delap still out.

Petr Cech remains injured for Chelsea, with Ross Turnbull set to continue and Demba Ba could be handed a start in place of Fernando Torres.

Recent form

Stoke: DDWDLD

Chelsea: WWWLWL

Possible starting lineups

Stoke: Begovic; Cameron, Huth, Shawcross, Wilkinson; Walters, Adam, N'Zonzi, Whelan, Etherington; Crouch

Chelsea: Turnbull; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole; Luiz, Ramires; Hazard, Oscar, Mata; Ba

Sports Mole says: 1-1