Our head coach had hinted at the chance of rotating his squad for this FA Cup tie and as a result has made changes throughout his line-up, starting with the goalkeeper as Kepa Arrizabalaga comes in for Edouard Mendy to make his first appearance since our draw with Krasnodar in early December.

In front of him, his fellow Spaniard Cesar Azpilicueta continues as captain, but Emerson Palmieri is at left-back and Toni Rudiger returns to side to partner Kurt Zouma in the centre.

Mason Mount continues in midfield, alongside Kai Havertz and Billy Gilmour, the latter making his first domestic start of the season as he continues his return from injury, having come off the bench against Man City.

Another young substitute from that game, who scored our goal against City, Callum Hudson-Odoi is the only change to the front three, as he replaces Christian Pulisic to join Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner.

Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta (c), Rudiger, Zouma, Emerson; Gilmour, Mount, Havertz; Ziyech, Werner, Hudson-Odoi

Subs: Caballero, Tomori, Chilwell, Kovacic, Jorginho, Anjorin, Pulisic, Abraham, Giroud

Morecambe: Halstead, Hendrie, Knight-Percival, Davis, Slew, Stockton, Wildig (c), Mendes Gomes, Phillips, Cooney, Songo'o

Subs: Turner, Mellor, Diagouraga, Kenyon, Lyons, O'Sullivan, Leitch-Smith, McAlinden, Gibson

Referee: Darren England

Stats recap

Chelsea are looking to progress to the FA Cup fourth round for the 23rd consecutive season.

We last lost a third round tie in 1998, when Manchester United beat us 5-3 at Stamford Bridge.

The last team from a lower division to beat the Blues in the FA Cup was Bradford City in the fourth round in 2015 at Stamford Bridge. The Bantams were sixth in League One at the time and ended our run of 12 successive home victories by winning 4-2.

Chelsea have played tier four sides in the FA Cup on nine occasions, winning seven. Our two defeats both came at Stamford Bridge, against Crewe Alexandra (1-2) in 1960/61 and Wigan (0-1) in 1979/80 on a frozen Bridge pitch.

Morecambe are appearing in the third round of the FA Cup for only the fourth occasion. They have lost the previous three, so are seeking to reach the fourth round for the first time.

This will be Morecambe’s first game since Boxing Day due to Covid-19.

Derek Adams’ side are seventh in League Two with 34 points from 20 games, five points behind leaders Carlisle with a game in hand.

Morecambe are on a run of four successive victories (all in League Two) since their defeat at Newport County on 5 December.

The Shrimps have scored in their last seven away games in all competitions since their 0-4 defeat to Crawley on 17 October.

Morecambe have been an EFL side since 2007 after being promoted from the Conference for the first time by winning the play-off final.