Team News: Diego Costa, N'Golo Kante back for Chelsea

Diego Costa and N'Golo Kante have returned to the fold as league leaders Chelsea welcome Stoke City to Stamford Bridge this afternoon.

The attacking pair return from one-game suspensions as Antonio Conte's men look to make it a staggering 13 league wins on the bounce.

Costa displaces the suspended Pedro on the front line alongside Eden Hazard and Willian, while Kante comes in for Nemanja Matic in a four-man midfield.

Conte sticks with the back three that kept a clean sheet in the routine 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on Boxing Day, with Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Gary Cahill on patrol in front of Thibaut Courtois between the sticks.

For Mark Hughes's visitors, there are three changes from the side that suffered a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last time out.

A switch to a 3-4-2-1 sees Peter Crouch operate as a lone striker up front, with support from Joe Allen and the returning Xherdan Shaqiri, while Jonathan Walters misses out on the trip to London.

Ibrahim Affelay makes his first start since April and Charlie Adam earns a recall as Glenn Whelan and Giannelli Imbula drop to the bench.

Phil Bardsley had been expected to return after recovering from a knee injury but misses out on the matchday squad, while Marko Arnautovic is suspended for the encounter.

Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Diego Costa, Hazard Subs: Begovic, Zouma, Ivanovic, Chalobah, Loftus-Cheek, Matic, Batshuayi

Stoke City: Grant; Johnson, Shawcross, Martins Indi; Diouf, Affelay, Adam, Pieters; Allen, Shaqiri; Crouch Subs: Given, Bardsley, Sobhi, Imbula, Whelan, Bojan, Bony

Keep up with all of the action from Stamford Bridge this afternoon with Sports Mole's live text commentary here.