The Chelsea fans in the Transfer Tavern are very concerned ahead of their return to the Premier League…

The international break has put the problems at Stamford Bridge to the back of the minds of the fans in the Transfer Tavern, but with just over a week to go until the return of the Premier League, the Man City defeat is still a big topic of discussion.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, though, the defeat wasn’t the only negative consequence of the game. Alvaro Morata also let the field early, and speculation has been ramping up lately that he could be set to miss several weeks worth of action.

It is still touch and go as to whether he will be fit to play Crystal Palace next week, and given that that’s the case, it makes sense for Conte to consider a few alternatives.

He will, of course, be hoping that Morata can play, but if he can’t, he doesn’t want to be caught without any other options.

With that said, here are 2 solutions for Chelsea if Morata can’t play against Crystal Palace…

Michy Batshuayi

This is the obvious solution for fans, but for Antonio Conte – perhaps not so much.

Conte opted to pass on the Belgian against Man City following Morata’s injury, with Willian coming on instead.

That clearly didn’t work, though, and so perhaps Batshuayi could get his chance against Crystal Palace.

He’s as like-for-like as it’s going to get for the Blues, and whilst he hasn’t been great in the Premier League thus far, he really does deserve a chance. His goalscoring record has been decent this season, so he could surprise Antonio Conte.

False 9

This is perhaps more of a surprising route, but it is one that makes sense to a point.

Chelsea might lack strikers, but they don’t lack attacking midfielders, and so Conte could look to employ a false-9 type attack.

The likes of Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and even Pedro have experience of playing in this system, and so Conte wouldn’t be short of options in the attack.

It hasn’t been all that successful in the Premier League thus far, but neither had a three-man defence until Conte came in – so anything could happen.