Chelsea vs. Stoke City: Team news, preview, TV & streaming information, SparkyNotes

Your stir as the light filters through the blinds.  It's that blissful moment when you don't even care what day or what time it may be.  You listen to the birds outside and the quiet house inside.  No alarms.  No responsibilities.

How long have you been sleeping?  Hours?  Days?  Weeks?  It doesn't matter.  Nothing's happened in a fortnight.  The world stopped spinning.  Football died.  Tabloids ruled.  The void was filled by empty words.

But then he strode into the room.  Greying hair, baggy eyes, but he looked relaxed.  He stifled a smirk when the microphone made a weird squeaky sound.  Then the questions started and Mourinho spoke.  His voice filled the air and filled the columns.  Football was back.  And it was good.

Date / Time: Saturday, April 4, 2015, 17:30 BST; 12:30pm EDT; 10pm IST

Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6

Referee: Jonathan Moss -- Mr. Moss is back for the fifth (5th!) time this season.  We've won all four previous (Everton twice, Swansea 5-0 away, and Derby County in the League Cup).

Forecast: Only in England can the weather be described as 'dull' as a regular condition.

On TV: Sky Sports 1 (UK); NBC, NBC Universo (USA); Start Sports 4/HD (India); elsewhere

Online: Sky Go (UK); NBC Sports Live Extra (USA); Star Sports (India)

Chelsea team news: The only certain absentee is Mikel, who is back in training following knee troubles but is "tired" and not match fit.  Another man who's possibly tired, though not from training or surgery, is Eden Hazard.  He most certainly will play.  Diego Costa is a doubt as well and he may not be ready to start according to the boss.  So just a hat-trick then?  I've also seen a few stray reports of a Petr Cech muscle injury, so keep that in mind if a certain Jamal Blackman ends up on the bench tomorrow.

Assuming everybody's fit, there's no reason to start rotating wildly now.  The standard, regular eleven that got us this far will probably have to do.  Though I wouldn't be shocked to see Didier Drogba get the nod (if Costa is unable to go) against the brutish trees of Stoke's backline.

After going a perfect 10-for-10 at home in the Premier League, Chelsea have drawn three of the last four, scoring just one goal in each of those four matches.  The previous 10 all saw at least two Chelsea goals.  The mission is clear:  score two and win.

Stoke City team news: With practically nothing left to play for with eight games to go -- they are 17 points ahead of the relegation zone and 17 points behind fourth place -- Stoke's mission is slightly less clear.  Though to expect them to roll over would a grave error.  After a bit of rough patch in the fall, they've played solid mid-table football, winning 8 of 16.  For more on Stoke, be sure to check out our opposition analysis.

Other than Chelsea loanee Victor Moses and the two long-term injury victims Peter Odemwingie and Bojan Krkic, Mark Hughes should have his full complement of players to choose from.  This does include Chelsea legend Jonathan Walters.

Previously: Here is the aforementioned man, hero, legend.