Giroud, Emerson team up for gorgeous Chelsea goal

“I must be honest, I didn’t speak with him”, Conte said. “Now I think it is too soon to answer”. “It’s very important we have all players available”. But in the next two weeks we have to play massive games and we must be strong – Barcelona, United and City. But now, we must be confident.

Monday’s 3-0 win was a step in the right direction, but it was still only Chelsea’s third win since the start of the calendar year. We need to take this competition seriously.

Five minutes later, Willian netted his second goal of the FA Cup clash before France global Olivier Giroud scored his first goal for Chelsea FC.

Marcos Alonso should not be risked for the FA Cup tie, with Emerson Palmieri and Davide Zappacosta the prime candidates to be deployed on either flank.

“For us, Giroud is a good option”. The two combined well for the first goal as Giroud’s hold-up play and deft touch resulted in Hazard being able to get his strike away.

“I hope no [FA Cup] replay, no”. “It could happen”, Conte said.

Over 2.5 goals is short at [1.58] but it’s only landed in three of Hull’s last 12 games and I’m not expecting them to add to Friday night’s tally. Today he played very well. “Three days to try and prepare the game against Barcelona”. Hull’s toothless attack offered little indication of the 23-year-old’s defensive prowess, though, and you suspect this will be a key factor in who Conte trusts against Barcelona.

However, Conte said a good run was vital to maintain their advantage over Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal who are directly below them in the league.

“I think I have to make the best decisions for the team”. But, on the other hand, you must be excited. You have to try and also accept these bad situations. “It won’t be easy, for sure, but we must have the right confidence and then we’ll see what happens”.

Hull City: The Tigers fired Abramovich-pal Leonid Slutsky a couple months ago, with former Southampton boss Nigel Adkins taking over. I know what we’re going to do, but we’ll leave people to discover that when the teamsheet goes in 75 minutes before kick-off. We gifted them the opportunities to score some goals in the first half. It’s been that way a lot of the time since I have been at Chelsea and it does get tiring. We would like to take the chance to wish Ryan well in his future endeavours. Their resilience was broken in the seventh minute of injury time at the end of the first half as Diego Costa turned the ball into the back of the net from Victor Moses’ low-driven cross. We needed to keep good possession of the football.