Chelsea v West Brom: Antonio Conte to make four changes as we look to start our season again.

Chelsea take on West Brom this evening at Stamford Bridge with the world watching, expecting things to fall apart once more with Antonio Conte sacked. It’s up to Chelsea to deliver the right result in addition to a performance to shut people up!

We’ve all had to suffer the banter and opinion of the non-Chelsea fans we know this passed week and have had to put up with a whole week focused on whether or not Antonio Conte would remain as Chelsea’s head-coach. He does, nothing has changed and you can bet your life that he has come back to Cobham on Friday with even more determination to work hard to put things right.

That starts tonight against a West Brom side that will be very different to the teams we have had to face under Tony Pullis in recent seasons. Those sides had almost a defend first mentality or look to spoil their opponents game as the priority, to then kick on and grab a goal from a set-piece or counter-attack.

Under Alan Pardew, they have a different approach as they look to take their game to the opposition whilst trying to remain compact at the back. The signing of Daniel Sturridge on loan could turn out to be a real success and he poses a threat that we must be aware of this evening.

As for Chelsea? I would expect changes to be made in our starting eleven from Watford a week ago. I expect Olivier Giroud to start and give us the much-needed focal point up front with Eden Hazard and Willian supporting him.

Danny Drinkwater should come into the side in place of the suspended Tiemoue Bakayoko and will take his position in central midfield next to N’Golo Kante. Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses will play either side as our wing-backs.

Our back three will consist of Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill and Toni Rudiger with Cahill playing through the middle if Andreas Christensen is out with Thibaut Courtois in goal.

It’s now arguably our biggest game of the season tonight for all the wrong reasons because of our two most recent defeats and the consistent speculation over the future of our head-coach. Antonio Conte and Gary Cahill have made it clear that those performances were unacceptable and have stated that they more determined to put it right as quickly as possible starting this evening.

A win and three important points moves us back inside the top four and closes the gap to Manchester United. It will give us confidence as we head into the FA Cup on Friday followed by Barcelona next week. Anything other than that would be a disaster.

These are challenging times now for Antonio Conte and his Chelsea players. There has been so much negativity surrounding us in addition to all the speculation that it’s been almost unbearable. The only way to shut people up is to get out there this evening and give a performance to remind everyone just who we are and why we are the current champions.

We must start with the right mentality, start dominating possession as quickly as possible and create chances early. A goal in the first ten minutes would be a bonus to hopefully settle things down, to get in our stride and kick on from there.

It’s time for Antonio Conte and the Chelsea players to step up. Come on Chelsea!!