Chelsea are within touching distance of winning their first Premier League title under Antonio Conte and a win today against struggling Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge will take them a step closer to the trophy. After Tottenham's 1-0 loss to West Ham over the weekend, Conte and his men just need two wins in remaining four games to claim the Premier League title.
Meaning, if they were to defeat Middlesbrough today and follow that up with another win over West Brom next Saturday, the Blues will seal the Premier League trophy even before Tottenham get to play their next match.
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Chelsea are no doubt the favourites to get the three points today and to make matters worse for Middlesbrough, they have not defeated Chelsea in any of their last six Premier League games.
However, Chelsea have some problems of their own ahead of this match. Defender Davis Luiz is a major doubt with a groin injury along with N'Golo Kante. The Frenchman picked up a small muscular injury during the training ahead of the game but is not completely ruled out.
During his pre-match press conference, Conte said Tottenham are at a more advanced stage of their development but was happy as to how his first season in England has gone so far and is hoping to win the double with the blues.
"In this season, if Chelsea had not performed in this way, Tottenham would win the title without difficulty. Only this great season from us is pushing them to fight and, maybe, to win or not to win the title. I think that Tottenham have an advantage, if you compare Tottenham to Chelsea," ESPN quoted
"Don't forget we started this season with a lot of problems and now we have a fantastic possibility to reach a great target and win the Premier League, and also to play the FA Cup final. These two big targets for us are very, very important, the most important things for us."
Middlesbrough also have a number of injuries to address ahead of this match. First choice keeper Victor Valdes is set to miss out with a rib cage injury. Gaston Ramirez is a major doubt with a pelvic injury. The good news for them is that Grant Leadbitter is back from a hamstring injury and Adlene Guedioura has also trained after his groin problem.
Middlesbrough are in pretty decent form heading into this match. They defeated Sunderland 1-0 and earned a hard fought 2-2 draw against Manchester City last week. If Steve Agnew and his men can produce another outstanding display as they did against Manchester City, they could cause an upset at Stamford Bridge tonight.
During his pre-match press conference, the Middlesbrough manager said: "I would say that we've not had much luck this season. If that comes our way over the next few days, then it's something we'll take." Let's just hope that we can be the team that comes out on top on Monday night."
"We've had to win matches for a number of weeks, so the players are used to that pressure. They've coped well in recent weeks and we're all ready."
Where to watch
The Premier League match between Chelsea and Middlesbrough is set to start at 8 pm local time, 12.30 pm IST and 3 am 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: NBCSN. Live streaming:NBC Sports Live
Africa: TV: SuperSport 3. Live streaming: SuperSport live
Middle East: TV: beIN Sports Arabia. Live streaming: beIN Sports connect
