Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Southampton: Havertz dropped, Pulisic to start!

There’s no time to rest for Chelsea after a hard-earned three points at the weekend as we travel down south to take on Southampton. Not a lot has changed on the injury front and one suspension has merely replaced the other, so the Blues will have more or the less the same squad to choose from.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

After a brief dip in votes, Édouard Mendy has reclaimed most of the WAGNH community’s faith in him, keeping Kepa Arrizabalaga (18%) relegated to the bench. The 3-4-3 formation continues to hold steady with a solid majority and over the half the votes, well ahead of the 3-5-2 (16%) and the 4-3-3 (14%).

Kalidou Koulibaly makes his return from suspension and immediately collects the most amount of votes. He joins Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James in the back three. Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell both garner slightly over 50 per cent in the voting, but just miss out as others garner just a few points more. Marc Cucurella and Ruben Loftus-Cheek slot in at wing-back. César Azpilicueta (43%) stays on the bench.

Thomas Tuchel doesn’t expect Mateo Kovačić to be fit to start just yet, but the voters want to see him line up alongside Jorginho for this one. Carney Chukwuemeka manages just 9% despite the reduced selection options.

Having gone scoreless so far this season, Kai Havertz (54%) gets dropped and in favor of Christian Pulisic. Raheem Sterling easily keeps his place; Mason Mount just barely makes it. Armando Broja comes close with 45%; Hakim Ziyech does not with 11%.

3-4-3 (55%)
Mendy (82%) | Koulibaly (96%), Chalobah (64%), James (94%) | Cucurella (64%), Jorginho (76%), Kovačić (74%), Loftus-Cheek (57%) | Pulisic (59%), Sterling (91%), Mount (56%)