Here in the Transfer Tavern the local Chelsea fans want to start seeing some progress.

They thought they were going to, after the start of this season.

Four games unbeaten and ten points from them right at the beginning of the year suggested they were back, but since the Blues have lost a fair amount of ground on those at the top of the league.

It’s not a time to start panicking but Antonio Conte needs to start shaping his squad to his liking.

Players like Diego Costa and Eden Hazard are always going to start no matter who the manager is, but the Italian has the chance to get rid of some deadwood that his predecessors did not.

He also has the chance to develop youth more as the club look to rejuvenate themselves and it’s these two factors, that have led our landlord to believe that these TWO Chelsea players should go out on loan in January…

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Loftus-Cheek is a talented young midfielder and genuinely has a good chance of a Premier League future but he needs to be playing more games.

It doesn’t look like he’ll get many at Chelsea again this season and that is why it would be best for him to have a temporary move away, show what he can do and then come back to win a spot in the line-up at the Bridge.

Branislav Ivanovic

Conte also needs to get rid of some players and many fans want this man gone.

Ivanovic has been a good servant over the years but he’s now well past it and should leave.

If the Italian boss has reservations about letting him go maybe a loan would be beneficial just to see what life would be like without the Serbian, and then surely he’d see it’s the right thing to do by selling him on.