Chelsea Predicted Lineup vs Fluminense for July 8

This is a Chelsea predicted lineup for the first of the two Club World Cup semi-final ties. The Blues will reunite with Champions League winner Thiago Silva as they take on Fluminense. With either Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain awaiting in the final it is all to play for in this one with the Premier League team already losing to a Brazilian side earlier in the competition. Can Silva pull out one last miracle?

Chelsea Predicted Lineup vs Fluminense for Club World Cup Clash

How Chelsea Have Lined Up Recently

Rob Sanchez has started most matches in this tournament, only being rested for Filip Jorgensen against ES Tunis. The defensive line has seen possibly the most change of anyone in the tournament with Marc Cucurella. Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile, Tosin Adarabioyo, Josh Acheampong, Reece James, and Malo Gusto all playing across the back line.

James also started in midfield on one occasion and would’ve done so against Palmeiras if not for a warm-up injury. This meant that Andrey Santos got a first start in place of the suspended Moises Caicedo and injured Romeo Lavia. Enzo Fernandez occupied the other spot in the pivot.

Enzo has also started as an attacking midfielder which has seen Cole Palmer play centrally behind the striker, on the left, and on the right. Pedro Neto has also switched wings with Noni Madueke missing out for Christopher Nkunku most recently.

Up front, Liam Delap has started as the striker in every game since the tournament opener. Nicolas Jackson’s suspension ended but he didn’t see the field in the last fixture, instead watching as new signing Joao Pedro came in as a substitute.

Chelsea Recent Form & Tactics

Enzo Maresca has been fiddling with his 4-2-3-1 setup throughout the tournament adjusting positioning and player roles when in-possession. While he used to go for a 3-2-4-1 with an inverted full-back, we have also seen him use a standard double pivot with the full-backs either pushing up or overlapping entirely to play on the wing while the actual winger moves inside. Cucurella from the left has also sometimes been moved into the left-ten space to keep defences guessing.

Things have worked out well aside from the brutal loss to Flamengo. That match was marred by some confusion from players moving into unnatural spaces but since then things have looked good for the Blues. Strong wins over Tunis and Benfica were followed up by a dominant 2-1 win over Pamieras that required some Estevao magic to be close.

Chelsea Injuries to Consider

Per SofaScore, the manager is set to have some selection headaches in this one. Lavia and Badiashile are both doubts after suffering problems in previous matches. To make matters worse both Delap and Colwill are suspended, leaving the squad short on left centre-back options.

Chelsea Predicted Lineup vs Fluminense

This is a difficult one to guess with neither of the main left-sided CB’s available. What kind of shift this causes in the defence won’t be known until the lineup goes out as we’ve never seen Maresca in this position before.

GK – Rob Sanchez

LB – Marc Cucurella

CB – Tosin Adarabioyo

CB – Trevoh Chalobah

RB – Reece James

DM – Moises Caicedo

DM – Andrey Santos

AM – Enzo Fernandez

W – Cole Palmer

W – Pedro Neto

ST – Nicolas Jackson