Hudson-Odoi benched as Werner and Havertz start – Predicted Chelsea side vs Leeds United

-


 Thomas Tuchel said all the right things in the build-up to Chelsea's game with Leeds United this afternoon. The German spoke about how the game at Elland Road was all-important, how he wasn't going to have one eye on the midweek Champions League clash Atletico Madrid when picking his team.


The reality may be slightly different. And understandably so. Chelsea hold a narrow first-leg lead in their Round of 16 tie with the La Liga leaders but it is far from a forgone conclusion that the Blues will make the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition for the first time since 2014.


Against Leeds, Tuchel has to use his squad astutely, something he's done since taking charge at Stamford Bridge to excellent effect at the end of January. He will be without two players for the game, however"Thiago (Silva) had a little setback in training this week," Tuchel said during his pre-match press conference on Friday. "At the end of the training session the day before yesterday, he felt at the very end something around the same area that he injured.


"So we had to take him off. So he is back into the transition phase but not team training so he will be out.


"It's the same for Tammy (Abraham). He still has ankle pain from the tackle against Newcastle. He isn't 100% comfortable. The day before yesterday he was fine, yesterday he had to cancel training. So I think these two are out for tomorrow but everybody else is available."


It's not been easy to second-guess the Chelsea head coach when it comes to his team selections. Tuchel has usually sprung a surprise selection or too during his relatively short tenure. But we know two players that are almost certainly guaranteed to start at Elland Road: Jorginho and Mason Mount.


Both are suspended for Wednesday evening's game against Atletico so should be named in the side and complete 90 minutes unless Tuchel's hand is forced during the game.

Edouard Mendy, who has kept seven clean sheets in nine games under Tuchel, will start in goal once more while the back three is likely to include Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, who sat out the win over Everton.


Reece James should start at right wing-back while the extra mobility and pace of Ben Chilwell may see him selected ahead of Marcos Alonso on the opposite flank.


With Jorginho occupying one of the centre midfield roles, this is almost certainly a game in which N'Golo Kante's talents are required alongside the Italian. And he should be fresh having only been introduced as a substitute in the victory over Everton on Monday night.

Predicted Chelsea side vs Leeds United (3-4-2-1): Mendy; Azpilicueta; Christensen, Rudiger; James, Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell; Mount, Havertz; Werner

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chelsea fans react to Jorginho’s dismal performance vs West Bromwich Albion

-
Image
 A section of Chelsea fans were critical over the performance of Jorginho during yesterday’s embarrassing 5-2 Premier League defeat to West Bromwich Albion at home. The Blues managed to open the scoring in the 27th minute through Christian Pulisic, who pounced on a rebound from a Marcos Alonso free-kick which had hit the woodwork. Just a few minutes later, Thiago Silva received his marching orders for a second yellow card after a needless lunge which made the slightest of contacts with Matheus Pereira. Silva had been booked for fouling Pereira earlier in the game and in both instances, Jorginho was partly at fault for gifting possession with poor back passes. The Blues eventually conceded as Pereira scored with a superb lob over Edouard Mendy in first-half injury time after a wonderful long ball from Sam Johnstone. Before the interval, the visitors doubled the advantage and Jorginho was in the thick of things again with a back header which Pereira pounced upon to find the back of t...
Read more

Granit Xhaka named Arsenal’s best player of 2021 (so far)

-
Image
Granit Xhaka has been named as Arsenal’s best player of 2021 so far by the CIES Football Observatory, who developed a unique methodology to determine who performed best irrespective of position. Interestingly, Granit Xhaka was overlooked by his club for the January Player of the Month award, included in February’s listing and then omitted from the running for the March gong. So where has this come from? The CIES Football Observatory specialise in this sort of thing, even if some of the results sometimes can be fairly controversial as they don’t conform to most fans’ viewpoints – Thiago was the highest ranked at Liverpool, for example . As stated by the CIES, they use an algorithm based off of almost every facet of the sport. You name it, they use it. “Several stages are necessary to analyse the technical performance of players in a pertinent manner.” And, interestingly, that has resulted in Xhaka top scoring in 2021 for Arsenal with an 80.9/100 overall score. He’s ranked seventh in the...
Read more

VfL Wolfsburg vs. Chelsea FCW, Women’s Champions League: Preview, team news, how to watch

-
Image
 The Champions League draw blessed us with a homecoming for Pernille Harder, who helped guide VfL Wolfsburg to four Frauen Bundesliga titles in four seasons, and two Champions League finals, including last year’s, before swapping wolf-green for Chelsea-blue. But the draw also brought back haunting memories of campaigns past, even as we did well to avoid Lyon, PSG, Barcelona or even Manchester City. Wolfsburg eliminated Chelsea from the Champions League three of the last four times we played in it — 2016 (Round of 16), 2017 (Round of 32), 2018 (semifinals). Chelsea repeated as semifinalists in 2019, losing to Lyon, and did not qualify for last season. But a lot has changed in London since then, with Chelsea strengthening under the watchful eyes of manager Emma Hayes. All that work on and off the pitch has given us full confidence that the third fourth time is the charm. Date / Time: Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 16.00 GMT; 12pm EDT; 9:30pm IST Venue: Ferenc Szusza Stadium, Budapest, Hu...
Read more