Antonio Conte had not started with two striker in his time at Chelsea. In fact, it had been many years since the Blues started a game with two out and out forwards. But that’s what they did against Burnley, and it worked pretty well.
The reason for playing Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata together, beyond giving them some practice in that setup, was to rest both Willian and Eden Hazard at the same time, not because of any change of philosophy from Conte.
As this tweet says, given Willian is Chelsea’s most in-form attacker, and Hazard is their best, it makes little sense to sacrifice one of them to accommodate Morata, even if he does play better in this system.
The two striker system had its moments in the week, but Conte will revert to one tomorrow. With Morata out of form; it makes no sense to sacrifice Hazard or Willian.
— Will Faulks (@willfaulks) April 21, 2018
Conte is pretty stubborn, and while we will likely see both forwards on the pitch at one point if the Blues are losing the game, don’t expect them both on the teamsheet from the first minute.
