Chelsea's David Luiz and 'unusually' mature Ethan Ampadu to start against Norwich in FA Cup third-round replay

David Luiz and the “unusually” mature Ethan Ampadu will start in the Chelsea defence for Wednesday’s FA Cup third-round replay against Norwich City, Antonio Conte has confirmed.

The 17-year-old Ampadu has impressed in his performances so far this season, while David Luiz is back in the side after struggling with injury, and amid some uncertainty about his future. The Brazilian will play for the first time since the 0-0 draw with Norwich at Carrow Road 10 days ago.

“Yes, he’ll play in the centre,” Conte confirmed, before praising the progress of Ampadu.

“As I said before, he deserves to play. He’s showing in every game that I made this decision with him – against Everton, against Bournemouth – and showed me he’s ready, to be ready to face this type of game. To play with the right concentration. To be ready physically and tactically. To play at this level. But this is unusual for a player who is only 17 years old. But that shows, at the same time, that age is not important. The most important thing is that you show, when I give you the chance to play, you repay me with a great, with a good performance. We are talking about a really good prospect for Chelsea, for the present and the future.

“The most important thing during training sessions is to show great commitment, great desire to fight for a place, for this chance to play. This is very important. Every single player must have this desire, this will to learn and improve, and to put yourself in contention. This is the best way for every single player to improve himself and also to show me this great desire.”

While there has been some speculation about happiness of David Luiz and other players when not starting regularly, Conte explained why a manager cannot afford to be too bothered about keeping squad-members happy.

“But every manager that I have had in my career, when I was a player, a footballer, one of the first things they taught me was this. It’s not important to make players happy. The most important thing is to win, and to try and be honest in your choice. To try to have in every situation loyalty. To be honest. If you are in this way, not one person can tell you something. Maybe in the first moment, a player, maybe, could be angry. But then, after they reflect, they understand you are an honest person and every choice is for the best for the team, and not because one player is more ‘favoured’ than others. I learned this from my coaches, from [Marcelo] Lippi, [Giovanni] Trapattoni, [Arrigo] Sacchi, many coaches that I had in my past.”