Chelsea visit Hull City: Time, team news, referee, all you need to know
Chelsea pay a visit to Hull City on Saturday afternoon in a Premier League clash. Here is all you need to know to prepare for the fixture.
Chelsea are reeling after two consecutive Premier League losses. Antonio Conte’s men will look to rebound against Hull City this weekend. The Tigers are no pushovers and they possess their fair share of talent. This should be a good one.
Hull City v Chelsea, 1st October 2016
KCOM Stadium, Premier League
Time: 15:00 BST, 10:00 ET
TV: Untelevised (UK), NBCSN (US), find your local TV station here
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Team News
The most significant piece of team news for the Blues regards their captain. John Terry will not be available for the Hull game after his ankle injury has turned out to be more troublesome than expected. He was scheduled to return for the Arsenal fixture, but will now have the international break to fully recover.
This provides Antonio Conte with a conundrum. The manager has indicated that a three-man defence is the way forward. He tried the system in the second half against Arsenal, with mixed results. However, Conte may not trust the trio of David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill.
In fact, the latest reports suggest that the Italian is set to drop Ivanovic. This would all but rule out the three-man defence for this weekend.
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The other piece of injury news is that John Obi Mikel has a minor issue. Given that N’Golo Kante struggled against Arsenal, Mikel may have been an option in midfield had Conte wanted more stability.
The rest of the team is dependent on the chosen system. Diego Costa will continue as the first-choice striker, but fans will be salivating over the prospect of Michy Batshuayi playing alongside him.
Cesc Fabregas may find himself back on the bench having failed to seize his opportunity last week. Oscar will be the player to replace him if such a switch is deemed necessary.
The Opposition
Hull City barely have enough players to fill matchday squad and they don’t currently have a permanent manager. Mike Phelan has been taking care of the role since Steve Bruce left just before the season started and the Tigers have done surprisingly well.
They currently sit in 16th spot, but they could find themselves in the top half should results go their way. Having said that, they have not won in their last four Premier League games.
With regard to team news, Ahmed Elmohamady is not available. The right-back was sent off during last week’s Liverpool clash and is suspended. With Hull lacking another natural right-back, James Weir or Adam Meyler will be makeshift replacements for the game.
The Referee
Anthony Taylor has been put in charge of this fixture. The referee has been deemed able enough to be put on the Champions League roster.
Taylor officiated Chelsea’s opening game against West Ham, where he produced seven yellow cards and gave the Blues a penalty. In total, Taylor has shown 23 yellow cards and no reds in his seven league games.
Game Central
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Scoreline predictions