Chelsea may have secured the Premier League title last week, but they will have to wait until Sunday to get their hands on the trophy after they take on bottom side Sunderland in the final game of the season.
Success wil give Conte more transfer power
Antonio Conte's men have been in a race with Tottenham all season and they finally confirmed their triumph with a 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion last Friday.
David Moyes' Sunderland are already relegated and all eyes will be on Chelsea as they will have one last job to do before celebrating winning the league in front of their fans. John Terry is also set for his last league game at Stamford Bridge.
CHELSEA INJURIES
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is Chelsea's only real doubt ahead of Sunday's party game at Stamford Bridge. The Chelsea youngster didn't even make the match day squad in the 4-3 win over Watford due to his back injury.
N'Golo Kante missed Chelsea's 3-0 win over Middlesbrough and was only on the bench against West Brom but he made his comeback in the match against Watford.
Chelsea did rest a host of names including Thibaut Courtois, who had played through an ankle injury that he sustained on an NBA photoshoot, in their match on Monday night. David Luiz, Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses and Nemanja Matic were also rested.
CHELSEA SUSPENSIONS
Chelsea have no players suspended for the match and have had few issues with discipline all season. John Terry has been their only player to be sent off, in the FA Cup against Peterborough United.
The cut-off point for accumulations of 10 yellow cards passed two weeks ago and the Blues avoided seeing any of their players pick up bans.
CHELSEA POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP
Antonio Conte dropped a huge hint that he will likely return to playing his full strength team after resting players against Watford in his post-match press conference.
The Chelsea manager said that he will start to prepare his players for their FA Cup final match against Arsenal with a win over Sunderland on Sunday, as he wants his players to retain their match rhythm ahead of a bigger test.
Zlatan 'ready' for Europa League final
"In this situation, you must have a plan," Conte said. "We play FA Cup finals on the Saturday after that and you don't start preparing for the game on Monday. You prepare for the final 10 days before, and for this reason, in my mind, I have a plan to play the finals in the best condition for my players."
Chelsea have used the same core of 14 players all season and their 38 changes to their line up is the fewest by any Premier League time so far.
SUNDERLAND TEAM NEWS
Victor Anichebe is out with a hamstring injury for Sunderland's visit to Stamford Bridge. George Honeyman is expected to be out with a back injury, while Jason Denayer is also not expected to recover from his knock in time.
Paddy McNair, Jan Kirchhoff and Duncan Watmore are on the long term injury list after injuring their cruciate ligaments. Steven Pienaar could be fit to return.
BEST OPTA MATCH FACTS
-
West Brom have won three of their last five Premier League games against Chelsea at the Hawthorns (D1 L1) – this after losing each of their first five between 2003 and 2011.
-
Chelsea have had a player sent off on their last two Premier League trips to the Hawthorns – John Terry last season and Cesc Fabregas in 2014-15.
-
The Baggies have only scored a goal in two of their last nine Premier League fixtures, failing to score at all in their other seven matches since the start of March.
TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME
All of the Premier League's games will kick off at the same time of 15:00 BST on Sunday. Chelsea versus Sunderland isn't televised but their trophy lift will be shown on SkySports 1.
