Antonio Conte has confirmed that Nemanja Matic is suffering from a ‘little muscular problem’ after being ruled out of Saturday’s match with Manchester City.
His absence meant that Chelsea were forced to make their first tweak to the starting line-up in eight matches, having won seven Premier League games on the bounce, with Cesc Fabregas stepping in.
Speaking ahead of the match, Antonio Conte backed the Spaniard to ‘show his value’.
“Matic is suffering a little muscular problem and for this reason, I changed the line-up but Cesc is a good fit and is in good shape. He can show his value in a big game today. I trust him. I hope Cesc but also the whole team to have a good game.”
“Until now it was fantastic to win seven games in a row,” Conte told Sky Sports. “Today we know this game will be very difficult because we face the best team in this league, with a great coach. But we worked this week to prepare for this game. Also we know we have to fight today.
“During the week, we tried two different solutions. City are a good team with a good idea of football.”
