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Stoke City vs Chelsea: Predicted line-ups

Premier League holders Chelsea will be looking to get back to winning ways immediately after losing ground on Premier League pace-setters Manchester City and Manchester United last weekend.

Stoke City vs Chelsea: Predicted line-ups

London, Sep 23: Premier League holders Chelsea will be looking to get back to winning ways immediately after losing ground on Premier League pace-setters Manchester City and Manchester United last weekend.

A 0-0 draw with Arsenal, which could well have been a loss, has seen a three-point gap established with the two Manchester giants and Antonio Conte will be looking to close in the gap.

Conte’s boys will be up against Mark Hughes’ Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday and will be looking to secure all three points from the game.

The Potters have beaten Chelsea just twice in Premier League history, and have lost six of their previous eight encounters including home and away last season.

Antonio Conte, and Mark Hughes, rotated their squads for the EFL Cup in midweek and therefore, we can expect plenty of changes in the starting XI of both sides. Both will be lining up their strongest possible XI in the game.

On-loan Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma is ineligible to face his parent club, but that is only the beginning of a mini defensive crisis for Mark Hughes.

Both Ryan Shawcross and Geoff Cameron are at risk of missing the game through injury, the latter almost certainly, while former Spurs man Kevin Wimmer is also suffering from a hamstring injury.

Antonio Conte has a defensive headache, of sorts, to solve with David Luiz suspended. Gary Cahill will return so it's not all bad.

Further up the field, Eden Hazard will likely start after playing the full 90 minutes, for the first time, on Wednesday. Pedro has been declared fit after having to withdraw at half-time against Arsenal.


Here are the predicted lineups of both sides-

Stoke City (4-3-2-1): Butland; Johnson, Martins Indi, Pieters; Diouf, Allen, Fletcher, Tymon; Shaqiri, Rodriguez, Chupo-Moting.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso; Willian, Morata, Hazard.

Story first published: Saturday, September 23, 2017, 16:06 [IST]
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