Conte rules out Chelsea trio from Bournemouth game

Looking to continue the recovery after the three-match winless streak, Chelsea look for a third successive win in all competitions on Saturday as we take on Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth down at Dean Court.

Unfortunately for us, the quest for positive results remains tougher than expected, as the injury crisis remains very real. While Victor Moses was always expected to be out until mid-November, Conte had bad news on N’Golo Kanté and Danny Drinkwater in the pre-match press conference, both of whom had been making good progress were deemed ready earlier this week — and Drinkwater even played 60 minutes against Everton in midweek.

“[Victor] Moses is out. For him we must have patience before seeing him in the team. N’Golo [Kanté] is still not ready. We have to wait and I hope to have him back for the Roma game.”

“Danny Drinkwater played against Everton but for sure he needs to find the right physical condition. The other players are available.”

The game against Bournemouth, the second worst team in the Premier League so far, looks easy enough on paper, but of course there are no easy games in the Premier League as the cliche goes and as we learned when playing the one team that’s actually below Bournemouth just the other week. Chelsea will have to be better than in that match against Crystal Palace, even as we face a few familiar faces.

“Bournemouth are a really good team. They play very well. We must pay great attention. This will be a really tough game against a team whose position is not right in the table now.”

“They played a lot of games very well, and sometimes they were unlucky. I have, and my players must have, great respect for Bournemouth, and their coach who is really good. Tomorrow I also have the opportunity to say hello to [Nathan] Aké and [Asmir] Begovic, two important players of last season.”

“In England, in the Premier League, easy games don’t exist. You must pay great attention if you are playing a top team or a team who is fighting in the relegation zone. This league is very tough. You must be focused on every game, and for sure you must lose a lot of energy in every game.”

While Chelsea have had a fair amount of bad luck regarding these injuries, it’s time to look beyond these problems, and work towards closing (or at least maintaining) the gap between ourselves and our Premier League rivals.

“Our start this season wasn’t lucky for many reasons, but we are doing well and we have the points we deserve in the league. We are doing well in the Champions League. We went in the next step of the Carabao Cup - last season West Ham eliminated us in the fourth round. We have to continue to work and also to find new potential players like [Ethan] Ampadu.”

-Antonio Conte; Source: Chelsea FC