Antonio Conte’s men are in the middle of a jam-packed fixture crisis with the Blues playing eight matches in the space of 24 days in January. The resultant congestion of the schedule has left the squad tired and many of them injured. Chelsea has won just two of those matches, one in a shootout.
Their match against Arsenal where they were defeated 2-1 by the Gunners and knocked out of the Carabao Cup left the Blues without a cup win for almost three years now. The Blues have an extremely light squad and have been made to pay for their lack of activity in the transfer market. Injuries to key players like Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill, Cesc Fabregas, Danny Drinkwater, Alvaro Morata and Willian had left Conte short on players and the Italian has had to lose his night sleep to get put out the first team. The likes of N’Golo Kante, Eden Hazard, Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso has had to play endless football and are on the verge of suffering a burnout.
In the FA Cup third round fixture of ties, the Blues failed to get the job done while visiting Norwich earlier this month and were scheduled with an extra game to play in this already jammed up fixture list. Conte reasoned that his men were suffering from fatigue and that was the reason for their insipid displays in the last few days. The Blues took another 120 minutes at Stamford Bridge followed by a penalty shootout to get the better of the Canaries. Yesterday they came up against Newcastle United and Conte’s men redeemed their Arsenal defeat with a resounding 3-0 win.
The manager confirmed that Morata is in line for a return while Cesc Fabregas has returned to training. Ross Barkley who made his debut against Arsenal is expected to be on the bench but will get game time owing to the lack of options in the attacking third for the Blues.
Here is how the Blues are expected to line-up for their match against the Bournemouth.
Formation: 3-4-3
Defence:
Willy Caballero’s time in goal will come to an end as Thibaut Courtois has recovered from a knock on his ankle and is now expected to play in goal. The three-man defence is likely to be Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill and Antonio Rudiger for the match.
In left wing back, Marcos Alonso is expected to start once again with Davide Zappacosta at right wing back.
Midfield
A midfield duo of N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas can be expected for Chelsea.
Attack
Pedro can be expected to play as a supporting striker to Alvaro Morata up top with Eden Hazard on the other side.
