Antonio Conte’s men finally found a break in Premier League and took on Peterborough United in the FA Cup third round tie on Sunday. Chelsea produced a superb first 45 minutes and put the game to bed inside first 30 minutes when Pedro and Batshuayi scored in first half. They still have 45 minutes to defend their lead but we can expect Conte to start making changes having take commanding position in the league.
Chelsea 4-1 Peterborogh Highlights
[ Emirates FA Cup 2017 Third Round Match ]
18′ 1 – 0 Pedro Rodriguez cut inside from the left flank and unleashed a superb shot in top far corner to make it 1-0 for Chelsea.
44′ 2 – 0 Michy Batshuayi started a rare game and was on target for Chelsea at the stroke of halftime.
52′ 3 – 0 Willian
67′ [ Red Card ] John Terry
70′ 3 – 1 Tom Nicholls
75′ 4 – 1 Pedro Rodriguez
Match Highlights
Unlike the other big teams in Premier League Chelsea has had a very kind festive period where they played 3 matches in two weeks while other had much more hectic schedule. We can expect Conte to field a strong team with not many changes in the starting lineup. Peterborough on the other hand are languishing mid table in League One but they are undefeated since November 22 and should pose a real threat for Chelsea.
Team News & Lineups: Like we mentioned befor, Conte’s men are not in Europe, already out of League Cup and that leave them fighting on only two fronts this season. The premier league and the FA Cup. Conte will surely take this game seriously but since they are playing at home we can expect few changes.
Kurt Zouma is set to start in defense while Michy Batshuayi is also expected to play some part. Costa, Hazard and David Luiz are not included in the squad while John Terry should return to starting lineup and will lead the team in FA Cup. Peterborough on the other hand will welcome back Brad Inman after missing out their recent game while Martin Samuelsen and Dominic Ball both expected to start for “the Posh”.
This is how I expect both teams to lineup on Sunday evening.
Predictions: Hard to see any other result than a convincing Chelsea in this one. Peterborough are a decent team and a good form at the moment but Chelsea playing at home should have enough about them to get a result. I am going with a comfortable Chelsea win by atleast 3 goals.