Chelsea FC club legend John Terry will be unavailable for this weekend’s big London derby. That was the major news out of Manager Antonio Conte’s weekly press briefing on Friday, and hence we have made changes to our starting XI prediction below.
Bet365 sizes up the odds for this as:
Gunners win 7-5, draw 12-5, Chelsea FC win 2-1.
Arsenal remain the favorite despite their inability to beat Chelsea in any of their past nine Premier League meetings.
Chelsea FC were ranked in the ESPN FC global power rankings last week, but then fell out after falling against Liverpool a week ago. The Blues were a trendy pick to win the Premier League title in the preseason, and then certainly played up to those expectations early by winning their first three.
Now they’ve come back to earth a little bit. Thus without further ado, we present to you, The Sports Bank’s Chelsea FC starting XI prediction for the London derby.
Diego Costa
Eden Hazard Nemanja Matic Cesc Fabregas Willian
N’Golo Kante
Cesar Azpilicueta David Luiz Gary Cahill Branislav Ivanovic
Thibaut Courtois
We inserted Fabregas back in there after hearing his comments that he’s motivated to perform by Conte dropping him from the starting XI. Fabregas scored twice to lift Chelsea in the EFL Cup, and we believe he’ll be extremely motivated here against his former team.
The two giant London clubs are currently tied in the standings; with each having accrued ten points. Arsenal have the tie-breaker edge, as their goal differential being +5 to Chelsea’s +4.
As always, feel free to post your Chelsea FC starting XI prediction, as well as comment on any Chelsea FC starting XI predictions you may have seen online.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.