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Football London
Football London
Sport
Ryan O'Donovan

Olivier Giroud in, Hazard & Loftus-Cheek out - Chelsea expected starting XI vs Slavia Prague

Chelsea take on Slavia Prague on Thursday evening in the Czech Republic as they look to secure a strong position for themselves in their Europa League quarter-final tie.

Having got themselves back into the top four with victory over West Ham on Monday night Maurizio Sarri will now be looking for a victory at the Sinobo Stadium in their first leg of their quarter-final to help them secure passage to the semi finals of the competition.

They have yet to lose a game in the Europa League and will be hoping to continue that tomorrow in Prague, but Sarri will make wholesale changes as he looks to navigate a fixture-heavy April.

That means those that played on Monday night are unlikely to feature once more on Thursday night, including Eden Hazard, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Alonso, Sammut, Loftus-Cheek - Who trained and who didn't for Chelsea ahead of Slavia Prague  

It looks likely there will be a change of goalkeeper between the sticks for Chelsea, with Willy Caballero coming in for Kepa Arrizabalaga as he has done for most of the cup games this season.

Cesar Azplicueta is due a rest which means that Davide Zappacosta may come in at right back, while Andreas Christensen could partner up with Antonio Rudiger after David Luiz played both matches in the previous week, while Marcos Alonso was back in training at Cobham and he could return at left back in place of Emerson who also played the last two fixtures.

In midfield, Jorginho and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are also all unlikely to feature, meaning Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley could come back into the side and play next to N'Golo Kante in his advanced midfield role.

(Ian Walton/PA Wire)

Up top, Willian and Pedro are likely to come in for Hudson-Odoi and Hazard, while Olivier Giroud, who has scored nine in nine in the Europa League, will come in to replace Gonzalo Higuain up top.

Expected Chelsea XI: Cabellero; Alonso, Christensen, Rudiger, Zappacosta; Kovacic, Barkley, Kante; Willian, Pedro & Giroud

Have your say on who you think Sarri should play on Thursday night by using our team selector below - simply drag your player onto the position you want him to play on the pitch.

Revealed: The two Chelsea youngsters called up to first team training ahead of Slavia Prague tie 

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