Antonio
Conte is aiming to avoid losing three consecutive games for the first time
in nine years as West Brom visit Chelsea on
Monday Night Football,
live on
Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm.
Chelsea were humbled 4-1 at Watford on Monday and head into the game with
questions surrounding Conte's future at the club.
Olivier Giroud is in line for a first start since his Deadline Day move from
Arsenal, but fellow arrival Emerson may have to wait for his debut, having
started only one game all season due to injury.
Conte will be relieved to have an unblemished record in three meetings
against the Baggies since he took over at Chelsea, winning all three of
their previous games without conceding.
Their 4-0 victory at The Hawthorns in November was followed by the sacking
of Tony Pulis two days later. However, West Brom's form has barely improved
since then, and they have won the fewest (three) games of any side in the
league.
West Brom forward Jay Rodriguez has been charged by the FA for alleged
racial abuse of Gaetan Bong during West Brom's match against Brighton on
January 13.
Rodriguez denies the allegations, and is available to face Chelsea if called
upon.
Opta stats
Chelsea have won all three Premier League meetings against West Brom under
Antonio Conte without conceding a single goal.
West Brom haven't beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in any of their last 16
visits in all competitions (D3 L13), since winning 1-0 in the League Cup in
November 1983 under Ron Wylie.
Chelsea's last 24 Premier League goals in this fixture have been scored from
inside the area, since a Didier Drogba strike in August 2010.
The Blues lost to Crystal Palace in October with the Eagles sitting at the
bottom of the Premier League table. The last season in which Chelsea lost to
two different teams starting the day in last place was in 1992-93 (vs
Nottingham Forest and Oldham Athletic).
Chelsea haven't lost back-to-back Premier League home games since November
2011, when they lost to Arsenal and Liverpool.
The Blues have lost consecutive league games by a margin of three or more
goals for the first time since October 1995 (1-4 vs Man Utd, 0-3 vs
Blackburn) - they've never previously lost three in a row by such a margin
in the top-flight.
West Bromwich Albion have lost more points from leading positions than any
other Premier League side this season (18).
The Baggies have won just two of their last 18 Premier League trips to
London (D6 L10), with both of those victories coming against Crystal Palace.
Alan Pardew has won away at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League with two
different clubs (Newcastle United and Crystal Palace) - no manager has ever
won there with three. In the top-flight, the last manager to win away at
Chelsea with three different clubs was Ron Atkinson (West Brom, Man Utd and
Aston Villa).
Antonio Conte hasn't lost three consecutive league games as manager since
November 2009, when he was with Atalanta in Serie A.
Merson's prediction
Chelsea need to win, they just need to win. That's what it has come to now.
You looked at the Bournemouth and Watford games and thought there are six
points to cement the top four and concentrate on Barcelona in the Champions
League.
Now you've got fixtures of Barca, Man Utd, Man City, Barca after West Brom -
it could all go Pete Tong very quickly. If they don't win, you don't see how
they're going to finish in the top four with the games coming up.
Alan Pardew is going to put 10 behind the ball, and keep it very tight for
20 minutes and hope the fans get restless. They'll look at what Bournemouth
did, but without the same pace on the counter-attack I don't see how they
can hurt Chelsea.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (7/1 with SkyBet)
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