After beating the red half of Merseyside, Chelsea will be looking to do the same to the blue half as we take on Everton at Stamford Bridge tonight. Carlo Ancelotti has turned the Toffees into a formidable side and Thomas Tuchel will have his third stern test in just over a week. Let’s keep the unbeaten run going!
THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE
The WAGNH community made the the choice of formation quite clear, with the 3-4-3 receiving a whopping 81%, and the 4-2-3-1 (13%) posing no competition. And once again, to little surprise, Kepa Arrizabalaga (8%) suffered a similar fate against Édouard Mendy as well.
Chelsea’s defensive trio of Antonio Rüdiger, Andreas Christensen and César Azpilicueta have gone from strength to strength so it makes sense that there would be no changes at the back. The game probably comes too early for Thiago Silva (7%) anyway; Kurt Zouma (14%) remains on the fringes. Chilwell retains the left wing-back position ahead of Marcos Alonso (32%).
It was an extremely close call in midfield with Jorginho just about edging out N’Golo Kanté by one percentage point (60 vs. 59%). Mateo Kovačić completes the return of “Jovačić”. Regardless of who starts, Jorginho and Kanté both had a very good game against Liverpool, and these narrow margins reflect the tough decisions that have to be made.
The decisions are a bit less tough up front, where neither Tammy Abraham (3%) nor Olivier Giroud (27%) come close to Timo Werner. Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi get the nod on either side of “Turbo”, with Hakim Ziyech (22%), Kai Havertz (42%) and Christian Pulisic (38%) not able to unseat the Academy duo.
3-4-3 (81%)
Mendy (91%) | Rüdiger (87%), Christensen (89%), Azpilicueta (81%) | Chilwell (66%), Kovačić (68%), Jorginho (60%), James (59%) | Mount (88%), Werner (84%), Hudson-Odoi (63%)
MY PREFERRED CHOICE
Never change a winning system, or so the saying goes. But in this case, I don’t see the need to make too many changes.
Chelsea have been unbeaten in the last gazillion games Jorginho has started and he’s been very good under Tuchel. I’m sure he’ll only get better as the team improves as a whole. Kanté was also terrific against Liverpool, but he needs to be taken care of appropriately seeing how injury prone he’s been in recent times.
The only other change I would make is switching Hudson-Odoi for Ziyech, just like the community at large. Ziyech just doesn’t seem to be clicking at the moment, and we would have been even more effective at Anfield had we taken him off sooner. It really is gutting but I can’t see how we can justify him starting at this point.
3-4-3
Mendy | Rüdiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta | Chilwell, Jorginho, Kovačić, James | Mount, Werner, Hudson-Odoi