Back in late September when Chelsea travelled to the Bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City they came away with all 3 points as the Blues simply steamrollered the Potters winning 4-0 with goals from a classy Alvaro Morata hat-trick and Pedro supplying the goals.

Mark Hughes will not have forgotten that game and as with any side managed by former Chelsea striker Mark Hughes it is never going to be an easy proposition especially because of the hammering they got off Chelsea in September but also following some pretty abject performances by Stoke City in recent games.

Hughes has recently been given the dreaded “vote of confidence” from the Stoke board and the team’s record over their last 5 games since actually includes 2 wins and 3 losses.

Stoke are in 13th position in the League but are only out of the relegation places by 3 points.

Hughes’ teams usually rise to the occasion always playing to the level of their supposed rivals like when they beat Arsenal 1-0 at home and got a late equaliser to get a point when the faced Manchester United.

Stoke’s last game was a 3-1 comprehensive home win over West Brom under their new manager Alan Pardew.

Chelsea’s last fixture was vs Chris Hughton’s Brighton side and the Blues came away with all 3 points as they won 2-0 with goals from Alvaro Morata and Marcos Alonso at the Bridge.

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So looking at the sides we can expect some changes from both managers but Conte and Hughes will select strong starting XI’s.

Chelsea are not too badly hit when it comes to injury news:

• young centre-half and early season revelation Andreas Christensen has been suffering from illness but is hoping to be recovered enough in time to make the starting XI but he’s certainly a doubt at this stage
• the sometimes outspoken and controversial player that is Samba star David Luiz is apparently going to be sidelined indefinitely with what must be quite a serious knee issue
• Charly Musonda is unavailable due to a groin problem at the time of writing and is unlikely to feature from the bench

Stoke City are playing without a number of injured players:

• Steven Ireland is recovering from a broken leg and has no return date at this time
• Captain Ryan Shawcross is in serious danger of not playing against Chelsea due to a nasty calf strain
• Eric Pieters is getting over a hip problem and will face a last fitness if he is even considered to be used in the game
• Bruno Martins Indi is out until at least the middle of January with a groin strain
• Glen Johnson is a possibility to feature for Stoke but will need to be completely over his knee strain

Given the form of both teams and that the game is being played at Stamford Bridge we think Stoke City will prove a tough adversary but we think Chelsea will win 3-1.