This is a Chelsea predicted lineup for their Premier League clash against an injury-stricken Crystal Palace team. Despite success in the cups, the Blues are on the brink of losing three in a row in the league.
Djordje Petrović has been a mainstay in between the sticks. In front of him we have seen Ben Chilwell, Benoit Badiashile, Thiago Silva, Axel Disasi, and Malo Gusto line out in the back four.
Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez have been the go-to pairing in the defensive midfield spot. Conor Gallagher often drops deep to sit with the two as a pressing number 10 allowing the other attackers to cause chaos.
It is in that attacking trio where we’ve seen some changes. The biggest was Nicolas Jackson starting on the left against Aston Villa with Cole Palmer starting as the striker. We have also seen Christopher Nkunku leader the line with Noni Madueke and Raheem Sterling starting on the wings.
Mauricio Pochettino has been loyal to his 4-2-3-1 base setup which has some fluid shifts to a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 depending on the in-game situation. This reliance looked to be his downfall after back to back heavy defeats against Liverpool and Wolves, but a win against Aston Villa in the FA Cup appeared to right the ship with the whole team really clicking in that outing.
The defence remains a problem as clean sheets have been hard to come by again, shipping four goals in consecutive games won’t have done much for their confidence either. Thankfully, their goalscoring woes are largely behind them as they’ve netted 12 times in their last five matches.
In good news, Levi Colwill is no longer on the injury report. He has been replaced by Benoit Badiashile who went off hurt at the end of the midweek fixture. The other names have been there for a while including Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia, and Lesley Ugochukwu.
GK – Djordje Petrović
LB – Ben Chilwell
CB – Levi Colwill
CB – Axel Disasi
RB – Malo Gusto
DM – Enzo Fernandez
DM – Moises Caicedo
AM – Nicolas Jackson
AM – Cole Palmer
AM – Conor Gallagher
ST – Christopher Nkunku
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