Chelsea are back in action after the Christmas time came to a close yesterday, and will be hosting Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on this exciting Boxing Day fixture, where the Blues are looking to extend their impressive winning streak to a record-breaking 12 games.
Following the recent suspensions of Chelsea’s key players N’Golo Kante and Diego Costa, Antonio Conte is set to make a few more changes to the starting line-up.
Cesc Fabregas steps in to replace the Frenchman to partner Nemanja Matic in midfield, as Conte makes no formation change to the flawless and unplayable 3-4-3 system, which has guaranteed the Blues outfit nothing but victories so far.
The team have arrived at Stamford Bridge… pic.twitter.com/F8Pl7WGAUo
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 26, 2016
Many rumours have also became true how the Italian would be reluctant to hand Michy Batshuayi his first, long-waited league start today. He has indeed left the Belgian on the bench as Eden Hazard starts upfront, with Willian and Pedro alongside him on the flanks.
Thibaut Courtois remains between the sticks after recording his 10th clean-sheet of the season against Crystal Palace last weekend, and the back-three of David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill is unchanged. Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses also hold onto their wing-back roles.
Here are the full team news:
Chelsea
Chelsea team today: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Fabregas, Matic, Alonso; Willian, Hazard, Pedro. #CFCBOU
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 26, 2016
Chelsea subs v Bournemouth: Begovic, Ivanovic, Aina, Zouma, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Batshuayi. #CFCBOU
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 26, 2016
Bournemouth
📋
Our team to face @ChelseaFC. Andrew Surman and Brad Smith in from the off. Junior Stanislas is back on the bench.#afcb 🍒 pic.twitter.com/AxzBtJGXX2
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) December 26, 2016
