Chelsea Vs Leicester City: Opponent watch

Leicester City travel to the Premier League champions in Chelsea on Saturday, as they bid to close the gap between themselves and Burnley in seventh place.

In the Foxes’ last league outing, they were 3-0 victors over Huddersfield Town, but a 0-0 draw at Fleetwood Town forced a replay in the FA Cup third round.

The Blues drew 0-0 with Arsenal midweek in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg and are also having to host Norwich City in a replay after drawing 0-0 in their FA Cup third round tie with the Canaries.

What to expect

After winning the Premier League title last season, Antonio Conte’s side didn’t quite invest as much into their squad as much as he or the fans would have liked.

Alvaro Morata replaced the outgoing Diego Costa, while Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger, Davide Zappacosta, Danny Drinkwater and Willy Caballero all joined the squad and have had mixed success.

Chelsea sit third in the table, one point behind Manchester United in second and five points clear of Tottenham Hotspur in fifth.

They remain in all competitions, but there has been a feeling of discontent at Stamford Bridge this season.

Tactics

Chelsea have switched between 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 formations this season, but Conte has recently preferred the latter.

Morata has been partnered up front with Eden Hazard, while three of Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Cesc Fabregas and N’Golo Kante have sat behind them.

The lack of attacking impetus from the midfield three has left Chelsea looking like an attacker short on several occasions this season, meaning Hazard and Morata have had to carry a lot of the attacking burden on their shoulders.

The January arrival of Ross Barkley could change that, but there is a growing acceptance that Chelsea are not the unstoppable machine they were last season, particularly if Hazard is kept from shining.

Strengths

Chelsea are a fairly well rounded team, but their biggest strength is that they have a match-winner in Hazard. He can win a game single-handedly at any moment, meaning the opposition have to keep their concentration for the entirety of the game.

As the Belgian and Morata are the only two forwards, Hazard spends more time on the ball as opposed to if there were three forwards.

Chelsea have the joint-second best defence in the league, including one of the best goalkeepers in the world, but Hazard is the key to Chelsea’s success.

Weaknesses

As aforementioned, Chelsea’s lack of attacking options has hurt them this year. Pedro and Willian have been used often this season but with limited success.

Bakayoko hasn’t driven the ball forwards as much as expected since his £40 million move from AS Monaco in the summer, but Barkley has shown those qualities in the past for Everton.

Barkley however won’t make his debut against the Foxes, manager Conte said:

"“For sure he’s working, very hard. I think that maybe in the next game against Norwich he could be available, be in contention. I hope for this. This guy is not ready 100 percent but he can start to help us.”"

Key matchups

Marcos Alonso Vs Daniel Amartey could be the deciding factor in this fixture, as Danny Simpson looks set to miss out through injury once again.

Amartey has been deputising in Simpson’s right-back spot in the Englishman’s absence and could face his toughest task against wing-back Alonso.

Alonso is a huge threat from the air, and becomes Chelsea’s third attacker when the ball is down the right-hand side and has scored several goals at the back post from crosses.

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Hazard will also move over to that side often, meaning Amartey will have to be on top of his game to get the better of his opposition on that flank.