Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Wolverhampton Wanderers: Pulisic starts; Kepa dropped

It’s all going down to the wire as Chelsea look to finally secure Champions League football by beating a strong Wolves team on the final day of the season. The defeat to Liverpool, after a convincing win prior, once again underlined our lack of any consistency when playing with a three-at-the-back. So, will it be given yet another chance to shine?

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The quick answer is no as the WAGNH community votes the 4-3-3 back in favor over the 3-4-3 (38%), even though the latter worked well in our first meeting with Wolves. Similarly, Kepa Arrizabalaga’s (36%) horror show on Wednesday means Willy Caballero back in favor, just like in February. Life comes at you fast!

With the return of a back, the defense shifted predictably. Reece James, Antonio Rüdiger, Kurt Zouma, and César Azpilicueta had been the preferred quartet recently, and so they are here as well. Andreas Christensen (25%), Marcos Alonso (51%), and Emerson (3%) are left out, joining Fikayo Tomori (16%), who’s just returning from injury.

Also returning from the treatment room but straight back into the lineup is N’Golo Kanté, whose presence has been sorely missed the last couple of games — be that in a box-to-box or a more holding role. Mason Mount and Mateo Kovačić complete the trio in midfield while Jorginho (30%) takes a seat next to Ruben Loftus-Cheek (16%) and Ross Barkley (19%) on the sidelines.

Tammy Abraham (15%) took his goal well on Wednesday, but so did Olivier Giroud and he’s simply been one of our best players since the Restart and thus gets the starting nod. Another obvious choice was Christian Pulisic. One less obvious one was Willian, who nevertheless still easily shakes off competition from Callum Hudson-Odoi (26%) and Pedro (2%).

4-3-3 (44%):
Caballero (64%) | Azpilicueta (95%), Zouma (90%), Rüdiger (70%), James (83%) | Mount (66%), Kanté (61%), Kovačić (90%) | Pulisic (98%), Giroud (86%), Willian (66%)

PREFERRED LINEUP

I’m not going to argue much with the community’s lineup.

I’ve finally come to the same conclusion that Kepa has to be dropped. However, our defense wasn’t much better, so I’d want Christensen to come back in for Rüdiger and spare me a few heart-attacks. So, I’d like to see Hudson-Odoi get the start after a promising cameo and great assist against Liverpool.

4-3-3
Caballero | Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, James | Mount, Kovačić, Kanté | Pulisic, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi

COME ON, YOU BLUES!