Chelsea vs Manchester City: Antonio Conte faces a key formation dilemma against Pep Guardiola’s frightening attack

HOT on the heels of our incredible mid-week Champions League exploits against Atletico Madrid comes an equally if not more challenging opponent in the shape of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

This match is the last of a tough September that’s seen us beat Leicester, Qarabag, Nottingham Forest, Stoke and Atletico over three separate competitions.

In this period we have scored 19 goals while conceding just three on the way, and only dropping points in the goalless draw with Arsenal.

With limited time to get back from Spain to recover and prepare for this match, and with City having played a day earlier at home, this game is our toughest test of the season so far in terms of opponent and strain on the squad.

After the lads' heroics on their Spanish sojourn, it’s understandable there will be some tired legs in the squad, and with David Luiz suspended after his late red card against Arsenal, Conte will again have to shuffle his pack and make full use of the squad.

Players such as Willian, Davide Zappacosta, Andreas Christensen and Pedro could well replace Cesc Fabregas, Victor Moses and Luiz without any real drop in quality.

But much will depend on which formation Conte decides to deploy.

Do we stick with the 3-5-2 and the more solid base that served us so well in Madrid, or will we revert to a 3-4-3 formation and put early pressure onto the weakened City defence?

With Alvaro Morata having limped away from the Wanda Metropolitano, Conte could also be without his talismanic striker with Chelsea’s physios set to assess the Spaniard during training before making any decision.

Despite spending the GDP of a small country on transfers in the past two seasons, City visit Stamford Bridge with some key injury concerns.