Chelsea play host to Tony Pulis’ West Bromwich Albion today as Antonio Conte looks to lead his side to their ninth consecutive Premier League victory.
In his pre-match press conference, Antonio Conte confirmed that the Blues will once again be without captain John Terry for this tie. Nemanja Matic, who missed out on last week’s trip to the Etihad, is fit again and is ready to compete for a starting spot. Another player unavailable for selection is Oscar, who is out with an illness.
During last week’s victory against Manchester City, David Luiz was on the receiving end of a dangerous two-footed tackle by Sergio Aguero. The Italian said he was worried about the extent of the damage caused after watching the images, and he was yet to decide whether Luiz would be available today.
“I have to check tomorrow if David Luiz is able to play on Sunday because, after this tackle, this tackle was very bad.,” he said. “I have to check on his recovery from his injury. Tomorrow will be very important for him and for me to decide whether he’s able to play. That tackle was dangerous, for sure. I watched the images and I was afraid. I was scared.” [via ESPN]
With Fabregas and Willian making impressive returns to the first team squad in their win against City, Conte has a selection headache ahead of today’s game, one that he was happy to endure. “I hope to have this difficult decision in every game, it means I have great competition in my squad and the level is improving,” he said. “Cesc played a good game against City and took his opportunity. Now for the next game I have a choice of four midfielders – Kante, Matic, Fabregas and Chalobah – and I have to take the best decision for the team.”
The Italian stressed the importance of having healthy competition for places within the squad before adding, “It’s very important that we have good competition. If I have to put out the same line-up it’s not good.”
