Chelsea are off to Anfield and the big question as far as the starting lineup is concerned is whether Sarri will stick to his usual midweek-weekend rotation between Team B and Team A, now that the players in the two groups have been shuffled around a bit.
PREDICTED LINEUP
Kepa in goal. Obviously.
David Luiz, Antonio Rüdiger, César Azpilicueta. Obviously.
Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté. Obviously.
Eden Hazard. Obviously.
So that’s 7 of the 11. Giroud played on Thursday, so unless Sarri pulls a false-9 Hazard out of his hat, it will be Higuaín. If Hazard plays false-9, Hudson-Odoi will start — Pedro is drastically out of form at the moment. Since Willian played the full 90 on Thursday, we have to believe Hudson-Odoi would be picked ahead of him even if Hazard is on the left.
Simiarly, Loftus-Cheek and Emerson have seemingly earned their places in the first-string, although the latter was aided by an injury to Marcos Alonso as well. Alonso scored the late winner on Thursday, while both Barkley and Kovačić started, so let’s keep the faith in Sarri’s rotation pattern.
4-3-3
Arrizabalaga | Emerson, David Luiz, Rüdiger, Azpilicueta | Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho, Kanté | Hazard, Higuaín, Hudson-Odoi
PREFERRED LINEUP
It’s rare to see this much consensus, but the WAGNH community was very, very clear in the voting for the preferred lineup. The only position even remotely under question is center forward, where Giroud beats out Higuaín (34%), but neither are exactly trusted on this day. Willian with 16% and Pedro with 17% basically represent the false-9 option.
4-3-3 (73%)
Arrizabalaga (98%) | Emerson (89%), David Luiz (74%), Rüdiger (88%), Azpilicueta (85%) | Loftus-Cheek (92%), Jorginho (84%), Kanté (99%) | Hazard (99%), Giroud (45%), Hudson-Odoi (91%)