Shak_man

If Roman really wants this team to become elite, we'll have to sign a player like that eventually

I think Conte does have options and they have been made all the more attractive by three performances in particular last night. Cesc has thrown the gauntlet down at Oscar’s feet, Moses has definitely edged ahead of Willian in the battle for the right wing berth and Chalobah has made the most of his debut, looking very composed and assured. Therefore, taking all this into consideration and subject to JT‘s fitness (agreed he is irreplaceable) my starting line-up (Plan A) against the Arse (4-1-4-1 formation) would be:- Azpi, Cahill, JT, Alonso, Kante, Moses, Luiz, Cesc, Hazard, Costa. However, Conte has a stated preference for playing Geezer at the back, so more likely is JT partnering him and a choice made between Matic and Chalobah to give extra bite in the middle of the park. It is possible that Nathaniel and RLC will fight for this selfsame spot in the future, with a switch into a 3-5-2 formation more easily made in this present set-up by including one of them in the above-named side, again at Gary Cahill’s expense, in this my (Plan B) team :- Azpi, JT, Luiz, Moses, Chalobah/RLC, Kante, Cesc, Alonso, Hazard, Costa. Ironically, the dilemma for Conte, should he makes this adventurous selection, is that we can’t keep a clean sheet to save our lives and a right-sided pairing taken from Azpi/Moses/Willian, or a left-sided one taken from Alonso/Aina/Hazard isn’t exactly going to make us more defensively secure, just incredibly offensive. 
Perhaps it has to be done, though, especially if you want to see [as I do] Batshuayi (not Hazard as in the above line-up) becoming the second striker. Something [someone] has to give to even get close to achieving these objectives and as Edin shouldn’t be sacrificed, the best I can come up with is (Plan C):- Azpi, JT,Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Cesc, Moses, Chalobah, Hazard, Costa. And yes indeed, it is our old friend the 4-2-3-1 formation, but based purely on my perception of the present form of players and the flexibility of the system. Naturally, the fear is that a holding two of Kante/Cesc would not be strong enough to cope in the normal course of events but, as Fergie used to say of another north London club ‘Lads, it’s Arsenal’ next up and they will play their own game regardless of the size and physicality of the players in these positions. In short [as both players are] I think we are better served giving as good as we get going forward on the break, with Cesc or Geezer providing the Route One long ball over the top to Diego - like him, it‘s not pretty, over-elaborate, pass, pass, pass, rocket science, but we should leave all that to the Emirates experts anyway.  
So there you have three plans put forward for consideration, though none of them are likely to see the light of day until more points are gathered in and we are as supremely confident as Pep Guardiola’s squad must be at the moment. Still, you live in hope and a rewarding run of games for Victor Moses, a recall for Cesc, plus a promising debut for Chalobah, are definite steps in the right direction.