5 Changes Antonio Conte Should Do Ahead Of Chelsea’s EFL Cup Game Against West Ham United

Chelsea performed out of their skins as they beat Manchester United 4-0, a score line that did not flatter them. They could have had 5 or 6 if De Gea hadn’t thwarted out a couple of shots. Conte will be delighted with his team’s improvement and upward progress this season, while it looked like they struggled in between, Chelsea have done exceptionally well to get their season back on track. A change in formation by Antonio Conte seems to have galvanized them and given them the confidence to face any team.

After being beaten by Liverpool and Arsenal, Conte made wholesome changes to his Chelsea line up and all of these changes seem to have worked for the Italian. Next up, Chelsea have EFL cup action to look forward to. They face a West Ham team that are coming into the fixture with some success of their own. The Hammers have won their last 2 games and this should give Conte some food for thought. After a patchy win over Leicester City in the last round of the competition, Conte will want to have it easier. In order for this to happen, he has to get his Chelsea line up right.

Here are a few changes that Conte might make to the team that beat Manchester United 4-0

Asmir Begovic for Thibaut Courtois

The Bosnian keeper is usually given the cup duties and it looks like the same will repeat itself for this fixture. He is a good keeper who can be a very able replacement for Courtois. Giving him some game time will give him confidence and well deserved rest for Courtois.

John Terry for Garry Cahill

Chelsea skipper Terry has been missing over the past few games owing to an injury. Conte will look to slowly re-integrate him into the team and this fixture will be the perfect one for him to do so.

Nathaniel Chalobah for Nemanja Matic

The Serbian has been excellent over the past few games but Chalobah’s good performances off the bench should see him start this league cup. His assist for Victor Moyes’ goal against Leicester was simply spectacular and a decent performance from this Chelsea youth product should cement his place in Conte’s squad.

Willian for Pedro

Pedro scored the opener against Manchester United and put on quite a decent show all in all. But Willian should return to the line-up following his absence owing to his mother’s death, for which he had returned to his native Brazil.

Michy Bathshuayi for Diego Costa

Batshuayi looked like quite a decent player when he scored early into his Blues career. Those goals made it seem like he would give Conte a selection headache for matters upfront. But it has been a different case altogether due to Diego Costa’s fine form which has seen the Spaniard score 7 goals. That makes him the top scorer in the Premier League. The Belgian should look to make the most of such opportunities.

Conte might just choose to make more changes but he shouldn’t as it might change the team’s dynamics to a very large extent. David Luiz and Azpilicueta have been good in defence. Kante has been eccentric and will look to continue his fine form. Hazard should not be benched as the Belgian is in a rich vein of form and he must be unleashed against a West Ham defence that has been quite shambolic at times this season.

Predicted line up; Begovic, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, John Terry , Victor Moses, N’golo Kante, Chalobah, Marcus Alonso, Eden Hazard, Willian, Batshuayi

Kick off  – 6:45 pm GST, 26^th October