Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Nottingham Forest: Never change a winning team

Chelsea hope to kick off the new year with back-to-back wins in the league, which is something we haven’t done since mid-October. Unsurprisingly, the WAGNH Community do not want to see too many changes from our winning performance against AFC Bournemouth on Tuesday.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Graham Potter rolled with a back-four and perhaps the clearest implementation of a 4-2-3-1 system, with a very fluid front line, last time out. And it’s what the people want to see once again, with the formation earning nearly half the votes, and another third going to the 4-3-3 (32%). The 3-4-3 had been the favorite for much of the past two years, but it gets just 17% this time. Turn the page!

The rest of the lineup pretty much picks itself (assuming no tinkering), with Kepa Arrizabalaga a nearly unanimous choice — Marcus Bettinelli must’ve voted twice for himself.

The only non-enforced change from Tuesday is the return of Mateo Kovačić from his post-World Cup break, with Denis Zakaria (56%) dropping to the bench despite a healthy vote-total. César Azpilicueta meanwhile deputizes for the injured Reece James.

Hakim Ziyech (23%), Conor Gallagher (21%), and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (14%) reach double digits but do not come close to starting. The rest were all in single digit percentages. Shout-out to the one lonely soul who put Enzo Fernández as a write-in vote. I see you manifestin’!

4-2-3-1 (46%)
Arrizabalaga (99%+) | Cucurella (92%), Koulibaly (89%), Silva (81%), Azpilicueta (76%) | Jorginho (71%), Kovačić (64%) | Pulisic (70%), Mount (93%), Sterling (84%) | Havertz (91%)