Chelsea Team News & Predicted Lineup vs Hull

The FA Cup returns as Premier League opposition meets an EFL Championship side in one of the earlier matches of the round. This has the added benefit of being a Liam Rosenior derby as his current employer meets one of his former teams. This will have the latest Chelsea team news and a predicted lineup for the clash with Hull City in the cup.

Chelsea Team News & Predicted Lineup vs Hull in FA Cup Clash

How Chelsea Have Lined Up Recently

Rob Sanchez has been featured as the starting goalkeeper. The back line has featured Marc Cucurella, Jorrel Hato, Trevoh Chalobah, Josh Acheampong, Benoit Badiashile, Wes Fofana, Malo Gusto, and Reece James as either a back five or a back four depending on the opposition.

Moises Caicedo and Andrey Santos have become the preferred pivot in the midfield, forming a solid partnership as the main shield of the defenders. Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer, Estevao, Pedro Neto, and Alejandro Garnacho start across the front line.

Joao Pedro is the in form option for the striker spot with Liam Delap offering a rotation option.

Chelsea Recent Form & Tactics

Rosenior opts for either a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-5-2/3-4-2-1 depending on the opponent. He aims to build up from the back by baiting the press and keeping his pivot players close to one another. There is more variance in the attacks with players trusted to try risky passes through the centre of the opposing defence, while full-backs are trusted to overlap or underlap to stretch and constrict the back line until cracks appear. That change along with more direct movements from wingers has seen the team start to pick up more penalties, like they did successfully under Mauricio Pochettino.

The Blues have been in decent form since changing managers, only Arsenal have beaten them since the switch. They put together a strong winning run in the league and Champions League that just hit a halt with the 2-2 draw with Leeds. Goalscoring has been easy for the newly unleashed attack but defensively, they are absolutely feast or famine, letting in two goals or more a number of times, with just two clean sheets kept.

Chelsea Team News

According to PremierInjuries, there could be as many as nine players unavailable for this tie. Dario Essugo, Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia, and Mylhailo Mudryk have missed all of or the majority of the season so far. James, Cucurella, Filip Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, and Jamie Gittens have newer or smaller issues but likely won’t be risked for this one.

Chelsea Predicted Lineup

Against Championship opposition, this is a great chance for the head coach to rotate, his star players have been playing basically every three days since the start of December and with a week off after this one, he could ease some players out and use substitutions to share the halves while also giving some fringe players a chance to start.

GK – Rob Sanchez

LB – Jorre Hato

CB – Mamadou Sarr

CB – Wes Fofana

RB – Josh Acheampong

DM – Moises Caicedo

DM – Enzo Fernandez

AM – Estevao

W – Alejandro Garnacho

W – Pedro Neto

ST – Liam Delap