UK Edition
Cesc Fabregas faces fight to tackle Arsenal as Conte plans to rotate his Chelsea squad once more
Cesc Fabregas is facing a fight to keep his Chelsea place for Sunday’s Premier League clash against his former club Arsenal.
Fabregas has been excellent in each of Chelsea’s last three matches since returning from suspension, but was the only Blues central midfielder to play the full 90 minutes in the Champions League thrashing of Qarabag.
Head coach Antonio Conte started with summer signing Tiemoue Bakayoko on the substitutes’ bench and the former Monaco man replaced N’Golo Kante just after the hour mark. Eden Hazard also made an appearance off the bench for 30 minutes and is expected to be ready to start for the first time this season for Chelsea against Arsenal.
That could push out Fabregas, with Conte considering going with Bakayoko and Kante in a powerful-looking midfield for the visit of the Gunners, while David Luiz will step back into the centre of defence and Alvaro Morata will reclaim his place up front.
It would be incredibly harsh on Fabregas to lose his place for the Arsenal game, given how well he played after winning back his starting spot last season and his displays so far this term.
Chelsea have lost their last two games against Arsenal, in the FA Cup and Community Shield, and Conte and his team are keen to set the record straight.
Fabregas stepped off the bench to score a late goal against his old club the last time the two sides met at Stamford Bridge in February and he may well be given a similar role this weekend.
Two games into a run of seven matches in 21 days, Conte reiterated the need to rotate and rest his players following the thrashing of Qarabag.
“First game in the Champions League, I decided to start with a rotation,” said Conte. “We have to start a process to improve our players. We are crazy to think we could play with only 13 players like last season.
“So we have to improve all these players to try and create a good competition, a positive competition, between them. It's very important, this.”