Lineup looks good to me. I would've started Hazard and Costa but Spurs have had the beating of us largely in the league fixtures so mixing it up a bit makes sense.

Big game for Bats, Pedro and Willian. And lets hope Ake can slot in well in Cahill's absence. Buzzing for this!

My only fear is in the middle of the park..I think we might be overrun.  Alonso and Moses will have to dig deep and may not get too much of an opportunity to get forward.  Next season we need a power house player in the middle...another Essien or Ballack type player. 

Just saw a recent video where Hazard had a bandaged Knee. Not sure if he is 100% fit, DC should have been dropped. So why dont people stop moaning and get behind the f**king team.

Isn't this a double-header?

1 minute ago, enigma said:

i like how people think missing cahill, costa and hazard means we will get smashed any more/less than if they were playing. whatever today happens, everybody has been crying out for something different, so here it is. i would say in some ways cahill and costa missing has strengthened us, and willian/pedro should be capable of providing the offensive play hazard provides. 

Pedro and Willian offer nothing anywhere near what Hazard is capable of providing. They just don't have the same amount of talent Hazard has.

We can cope don't worry. If we can hold Spurs for an hour then a fresh Hazard would be deadly against a tiring Spurs defence

I'm actually looking forward to this.

Be refreshing not having to watch Costa dive/foul/snarl/posture his way through a game. 

Just now, CFCCAN said:

My only fear is in the middle of the park..I think we might be overrun.  Alonso and Moses will have to dig deep and may not get too much of an opportunity to get forward.  Next season we need a power house player in the middle...another Essien or Ballack type player. 

yeah but what we need is irrelevant, we don't have those player/s. we have what we have available to us and that's it. matic and kante will have to have a fantastic game otherwise you may be right.

I like it, he has changed things, now let's see if he got it right.

btw spurs team 

 

Tottenham Hotspur?Compte certifié @SpursOfficial  26 minil y a 26 minutes

Plus

#THFC: Lloris (C), Trippier, Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Wanyama, Dembele, Son, Eriksen, Dele, Kane

3 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

Thats what I mean he may not be in the midst of an illness but if he has been unwell through the week and he is better, he might be 45 minutes better not 90 minutes better, and he would rather bring him on that take him off. Also consider extra time is an option. 

Let's see what Conte has to say about in the pre-match interview...hopefully there is a good reason.

4 minutes ago, enigma said:

i like how people think missing cahill, costa and hazard means we will get smashed any more/less than if they were playing. whatever today happens, everybody has been crying out for something different, so here it is. i would say in some ways cahill and costa missing has strengthened us, and willian/pedro should be capable of providing the offensive play hazard provides. 

Agree with everything except teh Hazard bit he is just a different level of player and willian is blunt going forward these days, pedro however can be very cheeky on his day, running in behind, hard little fella to pick up

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Pedro and Willian offer nothing anywhere near what Hazard is capable of providing. They just don't have the same amount of talent Hazard has.

Spot on. Hazard is worlds apart from them and we see it every other week. Hazard is by far our best and most effective attacking player 

I've looked at this lineup. 

My thoughts:

1) Is Hazard injured or is Conte is resting Hazard for Southampton, given we're only 4 points ahead of Tottenham in the PL?

2) Batshuayi is either an injury or form replacement for Costa. He does provide a different sort of challenge to Tottenham though - whereas Costa was at his best an aggressive, physical all-round forward, Batshuayi is a fairly rapid poacher. Will be interesting to see how he gels with Pedro/Willian.

3) If Batshuayi fires, he should replace Costa at the top of the Hazard/Pedro trident. If not, either Batshuayi is retained, Costa comes back in (although I hope not) or we resort to a fluid front 3, depending on the opposition. 

4) Will Willian track back to help Matic and Kante out?

5) Matic is on probation IMO - against Southampton Cesc should start and Chalobah for most games thereafter if Matic is poor here. 

Overall, not that hopeful, though I'm mindful that we're still ahead in the PL. Still, wouldn't it be nice to set back Tottenham's momentum?

Edited April 22, 20179 yr by DaRick

21 minutes ago, JT_<3 said:

Bats to be the savior out of the blue?What do you think?

Definitely got something to prove. Plays well and scores a couple today then stays in the team for rest of season. Will give a different approach to Costa who quite frankly has been sh1t lately

 

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Pedro and Willian offer nothing anywhere near what Hazard is capable of providing. They just don't have the same amount of talent Hazard has.

but hazard is also capable of going missing in these big games like he did vs utd. if spurs went and marked him out the game we would be struggling for creation up front anyway, so at least this way spurs will have 3 different personel to focus on rather than soley hazard. 

Is RLC on the bench?? 

1 minute ago, DonAntonio said:

Agree with everything except teh Hazard bit he is just a different level of player and willian is blunt going forward these days, pedro however can be very cheeky on his day, running in behind, hard little fella to pick up

willian also provides more danger than hazard on set pieces though, which is what we may need to rely on in this game. 

1 minute ago, CFCCAN said:

Is RLC on the bench?? 

No:

• 1Begovic
• 4Fàbregas
• 5Zouma
• 10Hazard
• 19Diego Costa
• 26Terry
• 29Chalobah

1 minute ago, Shug said:

Definitely got something to prove. Plays well and scores a couple today then stays in the team for rest of season. Will give a different approach to Costa who quite frankly has been sh1t lately

 

we know he has the talent, scored a gang for Marseilles, was in the belgian Euros squad, he is a good player, why he hasn't shined here we don't know but he has it in him.  

1 minute ago, CFCCAN said:

Is RLC on the bench?? 

Nope, begovic, zouma, Terry, chabolah, fab, hazard, Costa 

Conte makes changes "some fans" complain h doesn't "some fans" complain Great being the Chelsea manager

 

 

Moan moan, nag nag! why is kick off time not in the title of this thread?

Weird team selection but we could frustrate them and the bring on Hazard and Costa later when they're tired 

1 minute ago, moi said:

Moan moan, nag nag! why is kick off time not in the title of this thread?

17:15 (live on the beeb now)