Chelsea will be looking to maintain their superb form in the Premier League when they host Hull City in the final match of the week at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea managed a 3-0 win over defending champions Leicester City in their last match, meanwhile Hull City has registered two wins out of three matches under new manager Marcos Silva.
Also read: Check out Wayne Rooney's best goal for Manchester United
Despite Chelsea being the clear favorite to pick up three points in this match, their manager Antonio Conte wants his players to concentrate and not take Hull City lightly.
"Our challenge is to keep the right concentration. This is the right challenge. The right challenge is to think that this type of game is very important for the table. You can take three points, but you have to face this type of game with great concentration and focus on our targets".
"Because, in this type of game, if you think this game is easy, you make a great mistake and you can pay for this mistake at the end of the season. For me, Hull City are a good team. In the last game, they won against Bournemouth. They changed the coach and, usually when you do that, you have a great reaction from the players" Standard.co.uk quoted the Chelsea manager as saying.
Antonio Conte has a completely fit squad to choose from. Diego Costa might return to the starting 11 after the bust up with Conte last week. Nathan Ake, who was playing for Bournemouth on loan, stands to make his comeback as well.
Hull City, on the other hand, has lost just one game since Marcos Silva took over against Manchester United in the EFL Cup semifinal first leg but is still unbeaten in the Premier League.
Abel Hernandez seems to have regained his goal scoring touch under the new manager after he scored one against Swansea in the FA Cup and a brace against Bournemouth. The Tigers will once again turn to him as they look for a coup at Stamford Bridge.
Marcos Silva knows that his team face a tough test against the league leaders but wants his team to show a lot of fighting spirit through the game.
"Chelsea are having a fantastic season. They have a very good coach in Antonio Conte and it will be a tough test for us to go to Stamford Bridge. It will be difficult, but we will go there and look to compete. We will need to produce a good team performance. We will have to show our organization and compete for the full 90 minutes".
"Nothing has been done differently in our preparations this week because we are playing Chelsea. We have done the normal things that we have done for the previous games against Swansea, Manchester United and Bournemouth".
"The only difference this week is that we have had more time to prepare ahead of the game. That is important for me and my players. They have had more time to work with my ideas and hopefully we will see the benefits on Sunday" Hull City's official website quoted Silva as saying.
Hull City has a lot of injury concerns leading to this game with Will Keane, Markus Henriksen, Alex Bruce and Greg Luer out. Dieumerci Mbokani and Ahmed Elmohamady will miss this match as both of them are on international duty at the AFCON.
Omar Elabdellaoui, who signed with the club on loan from Greek club Olympiacos, could get a debut. The right back could get a place in the starting 11, having already worked under Marcos Silva at Olympiacos.
Where to watch
The match between Chelsea and Hull City is set to start at 4:30 GMT (10:00pm IST, 11:30am EST)
TV and Live streaming information
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD 1. Live Streaming:Hotstar
UK: TV: Sky Sports 1/HD. Live Streaming: Sky Go
USA: TV: NBC Sports Live. Live Streaming: NBC Live.
Spain: TV: Movistar+
France: TV: SFR Sport 1
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
Africa: TV: SuperSport 3 Africa. Live Streaming: SuperSport live video.
