Chelsea will take on Bournemouth away from home in the Premier League and will hope to re-open a three-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League table.
The Blues have bounced back well since the defeat against Arsenal in their last league game as they made the final of the EFL Cup by beating Spurs and progressed further in the FA Cup with a routine win against Sheffield Wednesday.
Bournemouth will be a tricky challenge for the Blues, however, as the Cherries have done well at home this season, and have picked up 21 of their 30 points at the Vitality Stadium.
Chelsea will be buoyed by the recent addition of Gonzalo Higuain, and the Argentine will hope to get off the mark for his new club if he plays tonight.
Chelsea Team News
The Blues don’t have any injury concerns at the moment as Maurizio Sarri has a full squad to choose from.
Higuain started in the game against Sheffield Wednesday before coming off in the second half, and is in line to feature once again as Sarri will want the player to acclimatise to the set-up as soon as possible. The more he plays, the better he’ll get.
Predicted Chelsea Lineup
Defence
Emerson Palmieri has been impressive of late and we expect the Brazilian to start in place of the erratic Marcos Alonso. The rest of the defence should remain the same, with David Luiz partnering Antonio Rudiger at centre-half, while Cesar Azpilicueta should retain his place on the right.
Kepa was the hero in Chelsea’s shootout against Spurs in the EFL Cup a few days ago, and the Spaniard has become an indispensable part of the Chelsea lineup.
Midfield
It’s unlikely we’ll see changes in the midfield as Sarri has preferred the trio of Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, and Mateo Kovacic in the three-man midfield more often than not.
It doesn’t seem like Danny Drinkwater will get into the starting lineup, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been sparingly used in the league games.
Attack
Eden Hazard has scored ten times for the Blues in the League and is their top-scorer. The Belgian will start on the left.
Willian should keep his place on the right. It’ll be intriguing to see how the wingers combine with Higuain against Bournemouth who have more quality than Sheffield Wednesday.
Hazard – Higuain – Willian
Kovacic – Jorginho – Kante
Emerson – Luiz – Rudiger – Azpilicueta
Kepa
