Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Watford: Willian and Pulisic ahead of Hudson-Odoi

After a disappointing result midweek, it’s back to business for Chelsea as we take on Watford at Vicarage Road. While the Hornets have had a catastrophic start to the season and haven’t been able to record a single win so far, any team can beat any other team nowadays in the Premier League, meaning a full strength lineup is a must.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

There were some interesting choices from WAGNH community for today’s lineup. Formation-wise, the 4-2-3-1 continues to grow in popularity, reaching the 60% mark for the first time this season, counting more than double the amount of votes for the 4-3-3 (30%).

Apart from Emerson (23%) putting up a fight against Marcos Alonso, all the other players at the back received well above 90% of the votes, with Reece James (36%) collecting the remainder.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Mateo Kovačić and Jorginho were picked ahead of Ross Barkley (3%) and Billy Gilmour (6%) — though the lack of options doesn’t really give us any other choice.

By contract, the front four saw a prominent omission with Callum Hudson-Odoi (49%) seemingly paying the price for his last appearance. Willian and Christian Pulisic, in that order, join 90-percenters Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham. Michy Batshuayi’s wondergoal was good for just 8%.

4-2-3-1 (63%)
Arrizabalaga (99%) | Alonso (54%), Tomori (99%), Zouma (94%), Azpilicueta (91%) | Kovačić (93%), Jorginho (96%) | Pulisic (68%), Mount (96%), Willian (81%) | Abraham (90%)

MY PREFERRED LINEUP

Unlike the community, I’ve no problem with giving Hudson-Odoi more opportunities and minutes despite his “struggles”. He needs to find his form as soon as possible and giving him game time could do exactly that. Additionally, though no update was given on him, I’m still hopeful that Emerson might finally return to the starting lineup after weeks on the sideline. Fingers crossed!

4-2-3-1
Arrizabalaga | Emerson, Tomori, Zouma, Azpilicueta | Kovačić, Jorginho | Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi | Abraham

COME ON, YOU BLUES!!!