Antonio Conte in his press conference today confirmed that the two Spaniards, CescFabregas and Alvaro Morata will be absent in the Carabao cup semi-final second leg tie at the emirates tomorrow.The Italian revealed that Morata has a back injury, having served his one match suspension in the club’s 4-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, while Fabregas is still nursing his hamstring injury and so not available for the tie.
The Chelsea manager confirmed that he will be making certain football decision that will be best suitable for his team ahead of their trip with the Possibility of Christensen travelling with the team as the Chelsea’s Central defender confirmed to be fit and actually trained with the side.
The tie currently at 0-0 couldpossibly lead to the game going down to extra-time, penalty and away goals cannot be ruled out with the Chelsea Boss admitting that the game is on a 50:50 level at the moment. Chelsea boss also emphasize on the blues scoring early in the clash though also hinted that arsenal also have home advantage and supporters too.
The Blues boss recalled his previous experiences and results against the London side including the last season clash that saw arsenal raced into a 3-0 lead against Chelsea within 30 minutes of Play. The Chelsea boss had his pound of flesh in the reverse of fixture in the same season with a 3-1 win as Olivier Giroud grabbed a Consolation goal in injury time. Arsenal went on to win the FA Cup that season as they won 10-man Chelsea 2-1 at Wembleystadium. The two sides have met four times this season and all have ended in a stalemate. Conte will be hoping that the blues edge them in the fifith meeting tomorrow to secure the Wembley ticket for the Carabao cup.
The absence of Alvaro Morata will mean that Conte might settle with the MichyBatshauyi while the absence of Cesc Fabregas will mean that Conte will stick with the 3-4-3 formation that used against Brighton & Hoves on Saturday.