Chelsea players were left bemused by manager Antonio Conte’s decision to make six changes ahead of their must-win game against Huddersfield Town on Wednesday, with the race for the final Champions League spot now going down to the wire.
Victory over the Terriers would have put Chelsea level on points with current fourth-place team Liverpool, but a disappointing 1-1 draws means the Blues need a miracle on the final day, and the feeling among the players is that Conte has now blown any chance of remaining at Stamford Bridge next season.
Chelsea face Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Sunday and must win, while Liverpool must lose at Anfield to travelling Brighton if Roman Abramovich is to see his side play Champions League football next season.
Failure to do so would see them slip into the Europa League, and it would be the first time in the club’s history that they qualify for the full Europa League campaign.
While there was acceptance that Chelsea were unfortunate not to win on Wednesday, and Huddersfield were desperately trying to secure their Premier League status, questions have been raised over Conte’s team selection.
In-form stars Olivier Giroud and Eden Hazard both lined up on the substitutes’ bench, while Victor Moses, Gary Cahill and Tiémoué Bakayoko were also dropped out of the starting line-up for no apparent reason.
Following the game, Conte defended his decision to rotate but it is believed that his players were shocked by the amount of changes prior to the game. With two victories absolutely crucial, the expectation within the squad was that there would only be minor changes.
While a run of five successive wins before the Huddersfield game has sparked new debate over whether or not Conte should be retained by Arbamovich next season, the draw is likely to be the Italian’s final game in charge at The Bridge.
When asked about whether the FA Cup final against Manchester United forced Conte into making drastic changes, the 48-year old said;
Absolutely. I did the rotation also against Burnley. To make rotation, it means playing with players like Morata, Willian and Christensen, players who usually are in the line-up from the start.
It’s stupid if we think rotation was a problem. We are Chelsea. We have a big squad and players who can play the whole game, but they must win. At Burnley we won the rotation was good. We spent a lot of energy against Liverpool. People said that line-up was not good, but we won. This is football.
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