Conte faces balancing act as Chelsea prepare for EFL Cup quarter-final

Antonio Conte faces a balancing act as he prepares his Chelsea team for Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final against Bournemouth.

Chelsea have not reached this stage of the League Cup since they won it under Jose Mourinho in 2015 and will sense an opportunity to win the first available trophy of the season.

Conte wants to remain loyal to the players who played in earlier rounds against Nottingham Forest and Everton, such as Michy Batshuayi.

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But the Italian also doesn't want to miss out on a shot at silverware.

"I want to continue to give the chance to players that are not playing with regularity," Conte told Chelsea TV.

"I want to continue this way, but at the same time we want to reach the semi-final."

It comes hot on the heels of Chelsea's narrow Premier League victory over Southampton on Saturday.

The Saints are now winless in five games, but the performance was much improved compared to the midweek mauling by Leicester.

Midfielder James Ward-Prowse told southamptonfc.com: "Against a few top teams now we've kept them quiet and we can take positives from that, but the most important thing was the character we showed after a disappointing result in midweek.

"It's a killer time to concede a goal, right on the stroke of half-time, but we showed in the second half that we kept our spirits high.

"We kept working hard and possibly could've nicked one at the end."