How should Chelsea line up against Liverpool in home opener?

After an easy first weekend, Chelsea’s schedule ramps up both in terms of difficulty and in terms frequency. Out fixture list may not be as congested as Spurs’ (LOL, Spurs), but the prospect of midweek Cup matches ensures that we will need to utilize the entire squad and rotate smartly whenever possible or necessary.

This match however, against the defending champions who have collected nearly 200 points over the last two seasons, will not be one of those opportunities. To beat Liverpool, we will need our best and brightest to be at their best and brightest. And unfortunately, some of our best and brightest will not be available.

Christian Pulisic may have returned to training, raising optimism that he’d recover from his hamstring injury faster than initial feared, but it looks like the more conservative prognosis is proving correct once again. Same goes for Hakim Ziyech and his supposedly minor knee issue. (No such thing!)

In slightly better news, Ben Chilwell seems okay but unfit while Thiago Silva just needs a bit of match fitness after his summer holidays. And fortunately Timo Werner is indeed okay to go, despite suffering a dead leg when winning the penalty against Brighton. Jorginho’s knock in the same game turned out to be nothing more than cramp, which is not surprising given our lack of preseason friendlies. We also get Mateo Kovačić back for this game, having served his one-match suspension last weekend.

Choose wisely.

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