There seems a possibility Antonio Conte might give some of his first-teamers a breather and that will mean a chance at the back for John Terry, Nathan Ake and Kurt Zouma but my confidence in them getting the job done lies more with the form of the struggling hosts.
They were truly awful in midweek as they blundered their way to a 1-0 home defeat in the Championship against Wigan and fully deserved a chorus of boos from the fans at full-time. They have managed just four wins from 15 this season at Molineux as only their recent conquerors have a worse home record in the section and it has become an obvious issue for Paul Lambert’s players to perform with any level confidence in front of their own supporters.
The Scot has assured everyone they will not dwell on the latest setback with motivation and application the least of his worries as the big boys come to town. Stoke and Liverpool are already two major scalps taken by the hosts in this competition but both those wins came on the road and can be chalked up in the ‘surprise’ column.
There will be a level of expectation from supporters for an even bigger shock here but the gulf in class should become massively apparent with Chelsea fighting on just two fronts this season – barely even an issue worth mentioning for Conte with no European commitments. A tweak here and there to his starting XI won’t knock the Londoners out of their stride and this has all the trappings of a handsome away win.
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