Chelsea vs Stoke City: Premier League match preview

A look ahead to Saturday's fixture at Stamford Bridge

Eden Hazard has excelled for Chelsea this season (GETTY IMAGES)

The Premier League leaders Chelsea host Stoke City on Saturday evening with the chance of widening the gap between themselves and their pursuers at the top of the table. By the time they kick off their lead could be down from six to four points if Arsenal beat Liverpool in the lunchtime kick-off, but they will still go into Easter Sunday sitting atop the Premier League table.

Chelsea go into the game having not lost in their last nine games, picking up 21 points from those games. However they have not looked as convincing in some of their recent performances especially in their last game against Hull City where they let a two-goal lead slip before Loic Remy came off the bench and rescued the three points for the Blues.

Stoke will be looking to bounce back from two disappointing defeats at the hands of Crystal Palace and West Brom when they face the league leaders. It will be a tough task for the Potters as they haven’t managed to pick up a single point from six Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge.

One glimmer of hope for Stoke might be that there is doubt over whether or not Diego Costa will be fit enough to start for the Blues after pulling out of international duty after aggravating his long-standing hamstring injury in Chelsea’s game against Hull.

KICK-OFF: Saturday, 5.30pm

PAST THREE MEETINGS…

Stoke City 0 Chelsea 2 (Terry, Fabregas), Premier League, December 2014

Chelsea 3 (Salah, Lampard, Willian) Stoke City 0, Premier League, April 2014

Chelsea 1 (Oscar) Stoke City 0, FA Cup, January 2014

STATS…

Stoke haven’t picked up a single point from six Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge

The team that are at the top of the table on Easter weekend have gone on to win the title in 16 out of the last 19 seasons.

Stoke have only managed to win five games away from this season while Chelsea have not lost at home yet.

Chelsea are averaging a goal every for every 5.5 shots this season according to Opta.

ODDS…

Chelsea to win: 1.3

Stoke to win: 12

Draw: 6

CLASSIC MATCH…

Chelsea 7-0 Stoke City – 2010

Chelsea were looking to win their third Premier League title in 2010 and went into the game in second place, two points behind Manchester United. After a fantastic season, which ended with the Blues scoring a record 103 goals, they lifted the trophy.

It was in this game that they returned to the top of the league and pushed on to win it. Salomon Kalou scored a hat-trick, Daniel Sturridge got on the scoresheet, and Frank Lampard scored his 20 goal of the season to annihilate Stoke.

TV: Live on Sky Sports 1 at 5.30pm