Opponent Watch: Antonio Conte to name his best XI against Leicester City
Antonio Conte has pledged to send out his best side when Chelsea face Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
The Blues were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by FC Barcelona as a Lionel Messi brace found the visitors wanting. With the round of 16 tie evenly poised at 1-1, Chelsea had just as much a chance as Barcelona did in the return leg; however, they simply were outclassed by what is probably the best team in Europe right now.
The European adventure over for now, Antonio Conte can focus on the Premier League and FA Cup, the latter being their only realistic chance of silverware this season. They made it to the final last time, too, however, a dominant Arsenal eased past them to lift the trophy for the third time in four seasons.
As Chelsea now eye their first FA Cup triumph since 2011/12, Conte doesn’t want to leave any tone unturned in his pursuit. Speaking on Friday, he assured the fans that he’d be “picking the best solution” possible for the trip to the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
"“I think every trophy is important for us.“We started the season wanting to fight to the end for every competition and in the EFL Cup we reached the semi-finals, Champions League we reached the last 16, now there is the FA Cup and it is important.“If we win we play another semi-final at Wembley, every competition is important and we try to do our best in every competition. This must be our target. We have to try to do both [qualify for the Champions League and win the FA Cup], to go to the next round and try to reach the semi-final.“It won’t be easy, Leicester are a good team, we suffered when we played at home against them [a 0-0 draw in January], but we must also do our best in the Premier League and try to get into the Champions League, but it won’t be easy.“Now we are not playing every two days – we played against Barcelona but we have the full week to rest and recover – so I’ll pick the best solution for tomorrow’s game.“It’s difficult [to respond to the Barca defeat] but it’s football. It was a pity to go out especially after two good performances against Barcelona, but this is football and it is life. Now we have to face another competition and for this reason we must trust in our strength and try to move on.”"
Leicester City won’t actually fear facing a full strength Chelsea for reasons that are very apparent to all of us. This is the best time to be facing them as they are low on confidence, making silly defensive errors and not offering much up front.
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There is always the possibility of a wounded lion striking back, but Claude Puel’s Fearless Foxes will fancy their chances in this one.