According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte will be making changes to his preferred starting defence, following the team's 3-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday. The names most likely to be phased out are Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill, the latter the major culprit for several goals over the past few games.

With John Terry set to return this weekend and Kurt Zouma expected to be available for selection after the upcoming international break, Conte will have more options available. But the boss remains keen on adding new options even after acquiring David Luiz and Marcos Alonso on the last day of summer transfer window. Some of the names considered for the position are English defenders Michael Keane and Ben Gibson, who represent Burnley and Middlesbrough respectively — others, like summer target Stefan de Vrij have since been priced out of our reach at £50m.

Taking Cahill and his shattered confidence and passing ability out of starting eleven is a must at this point. But taking Ivanovic out as well and presumably using Alonso as left back and Azpilicueta on the right, or using a three-man defence, doesn't seem particularly good on paper. Perhaps the return of our captain — and seemingly the only player who has any chance of organising our defence — will improve things. Otherwise, clean sheets will keep on being a rare occurrence this season.