Chelsea Team News: Trio To Miss Bournemouth Clash

Chelsea will be looking to cement their position at the top of the Premier League table when they entertain AFC Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.

Antonio Conte held his pre-match press conference on Thursday and confirmed to Chelseafc.com that the squad suffered no fresh injury concerns following the win at Crystal Palace last weekend.

That means that the only player who’ll miss the visit of Bournemouth on Monday through injury is club captain John Terry as he continues to nurse a buttock problem that’s hampered him in recent weeks.

Terry has struggled to secure regular game-time under Conte this season so he’d probably have had to make-do with a place on the bench even if he was passed fit to face the Cherries with Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Gary Cahill expected to continue at the back.

However, Conte is going to be forced in to changes further up the field as N’Golo Kante and Diego Costa will miss the Bournemouth game through suspension after picking up their fifth bookings of the season last weekend.

The duo will be a huge loss for Chelsea as Kante has been excellent in midfield since joining from Leicester in the summer while Costa has arguably been the Blues key player having scored 13 goals in his 17 league games so far, but Conte is working on ways to cope without the pair.

Conte told the clubs website:

‘We know that for this game, N’Golo and Diego can’t play and for sure they are two important players for us, this is clear but we are working very well this week to try to find the solutions to play good football, to continue to win, to take the points.”

Michy Batshuayi is expected to come in to replace Costa up front and the young Belgian international will be looking to impress having struggled to settle since moving to Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Cesc Fabregas is the man expected to replace Kante alongside Nemanja Matic in midfield and the Spaniard will be looking to grasp his opportunity having failed to hold down a regular starting spot this season.