Antonio Conte warns Norwich that Chelsea are due to give out a thrashing ahead of FA Cup replay

Simon Johnson17 January 2018

Antonio Conte believes Chelsea are due to give a team a thrashing and hopes it will come against Norwich City in the FA Cup tonight.

Chelsea have set an unwelcome new club record of three consecutive 0-0 draws, which started with the goal-less encounter at Carrow Road 11 days ago.

Conte has been working on the players' finishing in training, but feels misfortune has been the main reason for the drought.

He expects one opponent will soon suffer the consequences and said: "In every training session we try to improve our players' finishing. Maybe a game will arrive when you score a lot of goals, when you shoot and you score.

"At the moment we are shooting 20, 25 times in one game but we are not scoring."

Conte is expected to make a number of changes to his first XI with keeper Willy Caballero, Danny Drinkwater, Davide Zappacosta, Ethan Ampadu, David Luiz and Michy Batshuayi all expected to start.

Due to injuries to Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas, Antonio Rudiger and Tiemoue Bakayoko may keep their place.

In Pictures | FA Cup third round

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This third round replay will be Chelsea's 36th game of the campaign, just 11 fewer than they played in the whole of last season.

Conte admits he is feeling the strain as much as the players and added: "Am I tired? Yes. Maybe. This is the first time for me.

"Last season was my first season, but we didn't play Champions League or (much in the) Carabao Cup, because we lost in the second game and were out.

"This season we play Champions League and are going forward to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. We are playing FA Cup. For sure, not only for the players, it's a busy period.

"Maybe it's a busy period more for me because I have to prepare the game in only three days. Anyone who knows me, I don't just prepare the game only to pick the starting XI.

"I prepare the game on particular aspects. I'm working a lot in this period. But this is our job and we must be happy because it means we are playing for all competitions.”

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