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How should Chelsea line up against Stoke City to make it 13 wins in a row?

Clive Rose/Getty Images

Boxing Day saw Chelsea win a club record twelfth match in a row; now the Blues go for lucky number 13 to match Arsenal's single-season Premier League record.  Standing in our way will be Stoke City, who capitulated rather impressively against Liverpool on Tuesday despite taking the early lead.  Still, just as all other Premier League teams, they should not be underestimated.

Other than John Terry's questionable fitness — the captain has returned to training this week, but his availability is debatable — Chelsea have a clean bill of health, just as we've had for most of the season.  Not everyone will be available however, as two-goal Pedro (or one-goal Pedro, depending on the dubious goals panel) picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Bournemouth and will thus serve a suspension.  But, Costa and Kanté are back from serving a similar suspension in that game.

The yellow card amnesty kicks in after the turn of the year, meaning that if Nemanja Matić or David Luiz pick up a card in this one, they will miss the game against Spurs (coming up on Wednesday).  Perhaps that'll be a consideration for the starting lineup against Stoke, perhaps not.  Or perhaps the fixture congestion (relatively favorable, but still more congested than normal) will be a consideration, or perhaps not.

Choose wisely.

(Live results)

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