Chelsea’s 0-0 draw at Everton last Saturday combined with Manchester City’s 4-0 win against Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth means that the Champions are now 16 points adrift of the league leaders. Antonio Conte effectively ruled his team out of the race and will now look to consolidate on a top-four place.
Everton were widely considered the outsiders when they squared up against a Blues side who had recently lost to West Ham United as well.
The Blues have already suffered their fourth Premier League defeat of the season in just under 16 matches and have drawn three matches. Conte will know the significance of every win now with the race for top four already heating up. Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and surprise package Burnley are all within shooting distance of Chelsea and slipping up against weaker sides like Brighton and Hove Albion is simply not an option for the Italian.
Here is how he will look to set his team up for a match the Blues will be expected to win comfortably.
Formation: 3-5-2
Defence
Thibaut Courtois will be expected in goal despite his contract extension talks getting more and more complicated by the week and the Belgian still unsure about his long-term future. The defensive three is expected to be without David Luiz who is still out with a knee injury. Cesar Azpilicueta will be one of the three centre-backs. Antonio Rudiger will be replaced by Gary Cahill who will be expected to have the armband and lead the Blues on a night where they will be desperate for a win. Andreas Christensen can be expected at the base of the defence again.
Marcos Alonso will prepare for what will be his umpteenth match this season as a left wing back with Davide Zappacosta expected on the right side. Zappacosta will be relatively fresher than he has been for a long time after getting some much-needed rest during the last match when he was taken off after halftime.
Midfield
Danny Drinkwater along with N’Golo Kante can be expected at the base of the midfield with Cesc Fabregas up ahead of them. Tiemoue Bakayoko, who had a better outing against Everton last time, might be on the bench to get some much-needed rest.
Attack
The dangerous duo of Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata can be expected to start up top and will be tasked with the responsibility of scoring the goals to bring them the much-needed points.
