A Blue Up North previews Chelsea’s home tie against West Brom this coming Monday.
For a second successive weekend, Chelsea play a Premier League match on the Monday evening. This time they are at home with Alan Pardew’s West Bromwich Albion the visitors to Stamford Bridge.
In the reverse fixture back in November, The Blues comfortably won 4-0 to heap more pressure on the then manager Tony Pulis. Chelsea started with just 2 up front but both Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard were in devastating form as they sliced through what seemed at times a non existent Baggies defence.
That victory was Chelsea’s 4th in a row and there were even whispers that Conte’s side could be starting on a winning run similar to last season’s title grabbing performance. However, 3 months later and all looks so different for the Italian. After heavy defeats to Bournemouth and Watford, the media speculation had built up to such a crescendo that it even came as a surprise that he is still at the helm.
As manager though, Conte will have some more big decisions to make again for his starting line up. He is still without striker Alvaro Morata and Tiemoue Bakayoko is suspended after his dismissal against Watford. However, Andreas Christensen, Ross Barkley and Marcos Alonso are all back in contention for some involvement on Monday.
With this week being the first since that match at The Hawthorns without a midweek fixture for The Blues, the players were given 3 days off after last Monday’s poor performance. Although the main purpose would have been to rest weary and aching limbs, I’m sure they also headed home with words about getting their mental stare of mind back into winning ways ringing in their ears.
So, will Christensen and Antonio Rudiger return in defence, who will partner N’Golo Kante in midfield, will Alonso slot straight back in on the left flank with either Victor Moses or Davide Zappacosta on the right, will Olivier Giroud start and will he have 2 of Hazard, Willian or Pedro alongside him? Surely Giroud will get a starting nod so that the wing backs can press forward and have a target for their crosses, while Cesc Fabregas can orchestrate defence splitting passes for the Frenchman and his 2 fellow forwards.
In defence, surely Kante, along with a back 3 and Courtois in goal can marshal whatever the visitors can muster in open play. While the whole Chelsea side will need to be very vigilant at all defensive set pieces. Last time out for The Baggies, even an early goal which came riding on the back of the passion flowing after the fantastic tribute shown by the club and former players in honour of Cyrille Regis, could not prevent them from notching up their 12th league defeat this season. Southampton, who were on the back of a 12 match winless run themselves, then took control of the match. A late Rondon goal proved to only be a consolation.
To compound matters worse for Alan Pardew, with his side generally struggling to score goals, losing Jay Rodriguez at this time of the season will make the manager’s task of keeping his side in the top flight even more difficult.
So a home tie against the bottom side with his team feeling a little rejuvenated, a return to winning ways will be exactly what Antonio Conte will be hoping for and the Chelsea fans will be expecting with a run of very tough matches looming on the horizon. Another big win over their opponents on Monday and we all can start believing that the manager may yet have his belief come true and he may be able to see out the entirety of his contract. We’ll see.
Written by Jon Ellis, home and away season ticket holder. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
