Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Al Hilal: Havertz and Lukaku both!

We start our journey at the Club World Cup today and Chelsea will be looking to clinch the only trophy still missing in our trophy cabinet — a gaping hole ever since defeat to Corinthians back in the 2012 final. Winning is never a given at this stage as the Champions of Asia, Al Hilal, await in the semifinals.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The 3-4-3 has seen less action of late, but the WAGNH community remain loyal to the formation that had brought Thomas Tuchel so much success, still being well ahead of the 4-3-3 (18%) or 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 (11%).

Freshly crowned Champion of Africa Édouard Mendy is still celebrating, so Kepa Arrizabalaga starts yet again in goal.

It’s back to full strength in the back three as Antonio Rüdiger, Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah get the nod, the latter just beating out Andreas Christensen (40%) and Malang Sarr (30%). As Reece James still needs a bit more time and Kenedy (21%) only just joined the squad, Marcos Alonso and César Azpilicueta take up the wing-back roles unopposed.

The midfield battle sees a narrow victory for Mateo Kovačić and N’Golo Kanté, just prevailing over Jorginho (61%). Saúl Ñíguez (18%) and Ross Barkley (6%) only make the bench.

Mason Mount (20%) might be available, but the community prefer not to risk the Chelsea talisman here. Instead, it’s Kai Havertz and Romelu Lukaku both starting alongside a high-flying Hakim Ziyech. The trio of Timo Werner (47%), Christian Pulisic (43%) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (41%) come close, but don’t quite manage to get ahead of Lukaku.

On a side note, Jorginho did receive quite a few more votes than Chalobah or Lukaku, but there’s no way to fit him into a 3-4-3.

3-4-3 (48%)
Arrizabalaga (97%) | Rüdiger (89%), Silva (74%), Chalobah (51%) | Alonso (53%), Kovačić (68%), Kanté (68%), Azpilicueta (80%) | Havertz (68%), Lukaku (52%), Ziyech (71%)