Mauricio Pochettino has made four changes to his Chelsea starting XI for this afternoon’s FA Cup third round tie against Preston North End, including a full debut for a young defender.

Chelsea host the Championship club at Stamford Bridge this afternoon looking to secure a place in the fourth round. Pochettino has named a strong side to try to make that happen.

Djordje Petrovic keeps his place in goal and is expected to be protected by a four-man defence. There is a full Chelsea debut for Alfie Gilchrist at right-back while the central defensive pairing consists of Axel Disasi and Levi Colwill. Malo Gusto is at left-back.

Enzo Fernandez returns to the side and is set to be deployed alongside Moises Caicedo in midfield. Cole Palmer, who had a hand in all three of our goals last time out against Luton Town, keeps his spot as our No10.

There are changes in the wide positions with Mykhailo Mudryk starting in place of Nicolas Jackson, who has joined up with the Senegal squad ahead of the African Cup of Nations, and Raheem Sterling replacing Noni Madueke. Armando Broja leads the attack.

There are a pair of new faces on the bench for Chelsea, as Academy midfielder Michael Golding and full-back Dylan Williams are both involved with the senior side for the first time.

Preston North End have made two changes from the side which lost 2-0 at Sunderland on New Year’s Day, with top scorer Will Keane returning in place of Ched Evans up front and winger Milutin Osmajic replacing Mads Fronkjaer-Jensen.

Chelsea: Petrovic; Gilchrist, Disasi, Colwill (c), Gusto; Enzo, Caicedo; Sterling, Palmer, Mudryk; Broja

Substitutes: Bergstrom, Bettinelli, Thiago Silva, Maatsen, Williams, Gallagher, Golding, Madueke, Washington

Preston: Woodman, Potts, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, McCann, Browne (c), Whiteman, Osmajic, Millar, Keane

Substitutes: Cornell, Best, Cunningham, Holmes, Ledson, Frokjaer-Jensen, Woodburn, Evans, Riis