LONDON -- Chelsea manager Antonio Conte insisted that he still has faith in Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud despite deploying Eden Hazard as a false nine for the Premier League defeat against Manchester City.
Chelsea failed to register a single shot on target at the Etihad Stadium with Hazard an isolated figure up front, but Conte waited until the 78th minute to introduce Giroud and brought on Morata with one minute of normal time remaining.
Morata has struggled with form and fitness since September, while Giroud has started only one Premier League match since moving to Stamford Bridge in January.
But Conte said he will not hesitate to turn to both as Saturday's clash against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge kicks off a pivotal week in Chelsea's season.
"I trust them and work with them both to bring the best physical form and condition," Conte said. "Morata is coming from a strange injury in his back, he was a long time out. Giroud is in a good form now and working every day. I trust a lot in all my players.
"[Against Crystal Palace] for sure we have this option to play with Giroud or Morata as No. 9. It is an important game and we want to try to get three points. We will see [on Saturday] the final decision."
David Luiz and Ross Barkley are unavailable for the Palace game, but Kante is back in contention. The France international was left out of the City loss as a precaution after fainting at Cobham on Friday, but has trained with the rest of the squad this week.
"N'Golo is fine," Conte added. "After the situation the doctor brought him to have many check-ups, to understand the physical condition. But it was all clear. I think that on Sunday he was well but, at the same time, it was right not to take a risk. To give him the opportunity not to play and to rest. But he's OK."
Tiemoue Bakayoko could also make his first Chelsea appearance in more than a month. The 23-year-old received criticism since being sent off 30 minutes into a nightmare performance at Watford, and Conte revealed that time away from the pitch has allowed him to work on his confidence.
"If I have to see a positive aspect about his injury, he had a lot of time to metabolise the bad performance against Watford," Conte said of Bakayoko. "Now he's training with us for a week. His physical condition is not bad. But don't forget that Baka is only 23 years old. He's a really young player.
"This season, I think we are paying a bit for a lack of experience of many players. Baka has the right personality to become an important player for Chelsea. I hope in the present but, for sure, in the future.
"We are working with him in the same way that we are working with the strikers, with [Andreas] Christensen, with every single player."
The second leg of Chelsea's Champions League round-of-16 tie against Barcelona on Wednesday looms large ahead of the Palace game, but Conte insisted that his players will not be distracted from the task at hand.
"The most important thing for us is to go game by game and not look too far forward," he said. "For us, for the players, for me, for the fans, it's important tomorrow to try and win the game. Also because, don't forget, we have a target in the league to try and take a place in the Champions League.
"It would be very important to get three points tomorrow. Then, after the game, we'll start to think about the Champions League game."