Our Chelsea fans here in the Transfer Tavern are hoping for a big performance tonight against West Brom before they start a mammoth end to February.

The Blues are on their worse run of results in a very long time, having only won twice this year so far. After the West Brom match tonight, Chelsea go into a run of an FA Cup last 16 game, followed by Barcelona home and away ties, with a visit to the two Manchester clubs sandwiched in between.

With that in mind, our regular Blues in the bar think this could define their season and more importantly Antonio Conte’s reign at the club.

Following two three-goal defeats back-to-back for the first time since 1995, Conte will be looking at not letting the slide go any further than tonight. With that in mind, Conte needs to look at his players and in particular, the ones he’s brought in since he came to the club in 2016, to give him a big performance when the Italian needs it most.

Our landlord takes a look at which signings can be the difference…

N’Golo Kante

Conte needs the defensive midfielder to really re-find his sparkling form to stop West Brom. Chelsea have leaked seven goals in two Premier League games, so the first port of call will be to surely plug the leaky bucket, and Kante needs to be the catalyst for that.

If Chelsea are to keep within the top-four then nothing but a win is acceptable tonight against a struggling Baggies side. Though it’s hard to criticise the Frenchman, he certainly needs to get back to basics.

Olivier Giroud

Even though the Frenchman has only just arrived at the club, with Morata currently out injured, Giroud needs to find his feet sharpish. Giroud has been after regular first-team action for a while and is one of the reasons he left Arsenal in the first place.

Our Blues in the pub really do hope that Giroud can find the back of the net and on a regular basis, especially with the club falling down the league and Spurs breathing down their necks. He looked out of sorts at Watford, though not all of that is down to him.