Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Aston Villa: Pulisic to lead the line, James to start again

Frank Lampard will look to bounce back immediately after the disappointment at the weekend as Chelsea’s next opponent comes in form of John Terry’s Aston Villa. It will be interesting to see how the manager decides to set things up as the Villains can be quite a big threat on their day.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The WAGNH community made some surprising choices, but the formation wasn’t one of them, with the 4-3-3 (38%) remaining firmly in second place.

The preferred back four has remained the same as before as well, with César Azpilicueta, Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma, and Reece James all receiving over 75% of the vote. Andreas Christensen (32%) and Marcos Alonso (12%) miss out yet again while Emerson’s start on Saturday did not convince the voters (34%).

Lampard decided to omit N’Golo Kanté from the starting lineup against West Ham, citing fitness concerns for the long season ahead, but the community has spoken loud and clear in giving him more votes than any other outfield player. As usual, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic easily garner enough votes for starting spots, though the overall formation pushes the latter up a bit further than usual. It’s all very fluid anyway.

As Kovačić moves up, Mason Mount is pushed out to the wing, while Willian takes the other side — both beating out the once again fit Callum Hudson-Odoi (55%) but not by much. Same can’t be said for Pedro (2%), whose latest poor performance sees him relegated to a footnote.

Olivier Giroud (5%) didn’t fare much better either, while the question marks over Tammy Abraham’s injury see him restricted to just 37%. But as Michy Batshuayi once gain fails to even crack 50%, it’s Christian Pulisic who gets the start at the top, just as Lampard has hinted.

4-2-3-1 (56%)
Arrizabalaga (97%) | Azpilicueta (80%), Tomori (88%), Zouma (79%), James (77%) | Jorginho (72%), Kanté (94%) | Mount (63%), Kovačić (71%), Willian (64%) | Pulisic (88%)

MY PREFERRED LINEUP

I basically went with the same lineup as the community with the sole exception of believing in a Tammy Abraham return for this game, with Mateo Kovačić giving way. For me, this is currently our strongest lineup.

4-2-3-1
Arrizabalaga | Azpilicueta, Tomori, Zouma, James | Jorginho, Kanté | Willian, Mount, Pulisic | Abraham

COME ON, YOU BLUES!!!