Chelsea supporters are pleased that manager Antonio Conte has decided to omit club captain Gary Cahill from the starting eleven against Stoke City.
The 31-year-old is starting on the bench as the current Premier League champions travel to the bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The England international has only managed to start two Premier League matches this season after he picked up a red card in the opening day defeat against Burnley at Stamford Bridge.
Cahill featured in the 0-0 stalemate against local rivals Arsenal last weekend and he also played the full 90 minutes as the Blues stormed to a 5-1 victory over Championship side Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup in midweek.
The West London club confirmed on their official Twitter account that the defender will not be involved from the start against Mark Hughes’ side.
Here's the Chelsea team today… #STKCHE pic.twitter.com/DbHwKZpUYl
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 23, 2017
Chelsea supporters were quick to express their opinions on social media and they were delighted to see that Cahill was starting from the substitutes’ bench.
Here are a selection of their messages on Twitter:
For once Conte has seen reason to dump Cahill.
— Vince™ (@Blue_Footy) September 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/Ciaran_Johnson/status/911577270430683141
Cahill dropped ? #CFC
— Baba Yaga (@Jemade11) September 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/GawdlyAngel/status/911577780739039232
Gary Cahill dropped. Boy does it feel good to be typing that.
— Pranav (@pn99__) September 23, 2017
Conte have finally seen the light…..doing the needful by dropping Gary Cahill #STKCHE #cfc
— #ChelseaDailySummary (@Chelseasummary) September 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/ManLikeMorata1/status/911580103267815425
Good choice dropping Cahill but Hazard should have started. #CFC
— r.@.n.d.y (@kwasi_steqx) September 23, 2017
Fair enough dropping Cahill is a best call
— Jagan???? (@Jagan_CFC) September 23, 2017
The Blues have the chance to go joint-top of the league table alongside the Manchester clubs with a victory on the weekend.
Chelsea will look to come away with a positive result before facing La Liga giants Atletico Madrid in midweek in the Champions League.