Chelsea’s shock defeat at home to Bournemouth last time out saw them lose ground on Manchester United and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, with Tottenham also closing the gap on the Blues as the race for the top four gets more intense by the week.
Antonio Conte was unable to call on his newest signings Emerson Palmieri and Olivier Giroud for that game but the Italian will have both players available for Chelsea’s trip to Watford on Monday night.
With Alvaro Morata struggling with an injury and Michy Batshuayi now at Dortmund, Giroud is likely to start up front for Chelsea, while Conte could opt to give Marcos Alonso a much-deserved rest in favour of Palmieri at left wing-back.
Chelsea cannot afford another slip up in the race to qualify for the Champions League and here is our predicted XI.
