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Antonio Conte’s Christmas Tree Option For Burnley

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Chelsea travel to Burnley on Thursday evening as they look to pick up more points in their quest to catch Tottenham in fourth place of the Premier League.

Many Chelsea fans have been calling for Antonio Conte to rotate his squad more and revert his playing formation to include four at the back. He did just that when his side were two goals down at Southampton on Saturday. They won the game 3-2 scoring 3 goals in 8 minutes.

Of course, the big question is, will the Italian retain the 4-3-2-1 against Burnley. It’s doubtful, but if he does, his likely line-up could be,

Goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois

Defence
Antonio Rudiger
Gary Cahill
Andreas Christensen
Cesar Azpilicueta

Centre Midfield
Emerson
N’golo Kante
Victor Moses

Attacking Midfield
Eden Hazard
Willian

Striker
Olivier Giroud

There is absolutely no need to rest players at this stage of the season. There may be an FA Cup semi-final on the horizon, but every game is a must win. Chelsea have a maximum of seven games left. These players ought to be capable of playing all seven. Conte has to play his best XI in every game.

Marcos Alonso is likely to be suspended for this game, having been charged by the FA following a late challenge on Shane Long on Saturday. Obviously David Luiz will be ‘injured’. There is a vague possibility that Ross Barkley will get a game, having finally recovered from injury.

Conte has practically thrown in the towel on his Chelsea career, having told the players their responsibilities lie in the badge on their shirts and with the supporters. Let’s hope that’s one message from the Italian they can actualise.

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