It’s time for mid-week Premier League! Chelsea are targeting their tenth victory in a row as they travel to Sunderland after just playing West Bromwich last Sunday.
Antonio Conte has lined up his team slightly differently from the weekend, as Chelsea miss out on Eden Hazard due to a slight injury. Willian steps in to replace the Belgian, while Diego Costa continues upfront, hoping to maintain his vital goal-scoring run.
Thibaut Courtois remains between the sticks with Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Gary Cahill inherently ahead of him to cover. Nemanja Matic is dropped to the bench and Cesc Fabregas is back in the starting eleven.
Kurt Zouma is also at the Chelsea bench as he looks to have recovered from his ACL tear which he suffered earlier this year.
Sunderland miss out on their star striker Victor Anichebe, who is sidelined for the clash. Jermain Defoe however leads the line upfront and is possible to cause a lot of havoc for the Blues defenders.
Here are the full team line-ups:
Chelsea
Chelsea team tonight: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Diego Costa, Pedro. #SUNCHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 14, 2016
Chelsea subs: Begovic, Ivanovic, Zouma, Chalobah, Matic, Loftus-Cheek, Batshuayi. #SUNCHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 14, 2016
Sunderland
📝 David Moyes has made a number of changes ahead of tonight's game v @ChelseaFC @StadiumOfLight pic.twitter.com/OhZa6e9h6j
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) December 14, 2016
