FA Cup Final Lineups: Chelsea bench Hazard and Costa

22 apr 2017

That Antonio Conte is a wily old fox, isn’t he? As reported in the last few hours, the Chelsea manager has decided to bench his two most important attacking forces, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.

With Chelsea playing Southampton on Tuesday and their Premier League lead cut to four points, Coach Antonio Conte is resting his players and throwing Tottenham a curveball.

Spurs, who are second in the table, have opted to use Kieran Trippier on the right, and Jan Vertonghen on the left. Otherwise, there are no major surprises, except for Heung-Min Son’s inclusion from the start, though the former Bundesliga star’s eye for goal should be a major concern for Chelsea.

Diego Costa hasn’t scored in six games now, and has picked up four yellow cards in that time, looking at his litigious worst in the recent 2-0 loss to Manchester United.

Chelsea XI: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Ake; Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso; Willian, Batshuayi, Pedro

Tottenham XI: Lloris, Trippier, Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Wanyama, Dembele, Son, Eriksen, Dele, Kane

@EdoDalmonte