Chelsea will host Bournemouth in their league cup fixture at Stamford Bridge. They are coming off a 1-0 showing against Southampton in their weekend Premier League fixture. Having fallen 14 points below league leaders, Manchester City, Conte needs to pursue the Domestic cup competitions aggressively and ensure himself silverware by the end of the season.
The Blues are set to face an in-form Everton team on Saturday and cannot afford to lose points right now and sacrifice their third place spot.
Conte will have to strategically rotate his squad to address the issue of fatigue that the December schedule brings with it.
Bournemouth faced a heavy 0-4 defeat to Liverpool on the weekend at the Anfield and dropped to the 16th spot of the points table. They were knocked out of the League Cup last season by Preston North End. Eddie Howe’s men have to be more concerned about their current status in the Premier League rather than the League Cup competitions. With a just a point away from relegation, an upset in this League cup fixture is highly unlikely.
Conte is expected to field his men in his usual 3-4-2-1 formation.
Defence
Willy Cabellero is expected to start ahead of Thibaut Courtois for this match as seen in the previous League cup outings.
David Luiz is still not fit enough to feature for the side which puts Conte with not many options at the back. Antonio Rudiger is expected to replace Andreas Christensen in the centre-back position with Caesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill resuming their duties alongside him.
Midfield
Davide Zappacosta might find himself fielded the right wing-back position with Kenedy on the left.
Daniel Drinkwater can take up the two holding midfield positions with Tiemoue Bakayoko alongside him. The Englishman can depend on the defensive duties of Bakayoko and distribute the ball towards the final third.
Attack
After a lot of minutes on the bench rather than on the pitch, Charly Musonda is expected to start from right wing position and impress Conte. He has a goal and an assist to his name in the League cup competition already and should look to increase that tally in this matchup.
Pedro can look to start from left along with Musonda and perform the role of a second striker whenever required.
Eden Hazard might not start in this match but can look to make an impact as a substitute in the second half.
Even though he has fallen out of favour, Michy Batshuayi can start for this fixture in the lone striker position. He is eager to get more game time under his belt and is expected to put in an improved display.
