With his side in a strong position in the Premier League, it’s no surprise that Antonio Conte intends to take tomorrow’s FA Cup 5th round game against Wolves seriously.
After rotating fairly comprehensively in previous rounds, Conte’s press conference today all but confirmed that the Blues manager will play a full strength team against Wolves.
Chelsea have not played since last weekend, and don’t play again till next weekend’s home fixture against Swansea City, so there’s no reason for the Italian to hold off on first choice players, who he told the press he wants to keep in good rhythm for the rest of the season.
David Luiz may well miss out as he looks to rest the knee injury that has been bothering him for some months now. Kurt Zouma has started FA Cup games so far this campaign and will probably step in to replace the Brazilian with John Terry’s foot injury swinging the balance in favour of the former St Etienne man.
Willian is the only other likely change, with the Brazilian rotating regularly with Pedro in the right wing slot.
With such a strong lineup in place Chelsea will hope to run out comfortable winners as they have done in previous rounds. Paul Lambert’s side are not to be underestimated however. Having knocked out Liverpool in the previous round Conte will not allow his team to underestimate their Championship opposition.
Wolves are struggling in the league but showed that they have great pace and threat on the counter attack at Anfield. Chelsea must not allow themselves to be caught out in the same way that Liverpool did.
