Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Manchester City: ‘Jovačić’ in the pivot, unchanged up front

Chelsea are going through a rough patch and could face no opponent worse than Manchester City right now. But the schedule can’t be helped, so we will have to pull ourselves together to avoid a humiliation.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The WAGNH community have stuck with the 4-2-3-1, just ahead of the 4-3-3 (27%) and the nowadays less popular 3-4-3 (26%). Kepa also keeps his spot between the sticks, and by an overwhelming margin over Marcus Bettinelli (1%) as Édouard Mendy remains sidelined.

The back line sees one change from Sunday as Kalidou Koulibaly (66%) rotates out after a terrible performance in favor of Trevoh Chalobah. Reece James and Ben Chilwell remain injured, so César Azpilicueta and Marc Cucurella continue practically unopposed, while Thiago Silva leads all non-goalkeepers in voting. Youngsters Bashir Humphreys (4%) and Derrick Abu (4%) could provide some cover at the back.

The game sees a return of the old ‘Jovačić’ pivot as Mateo Kovačić and Jorginho start. Denis Zakaria (46%) narrowly misses out while Conor Gallagher (24%), Lewis Hall (21%) and Carney Chukwuemeka (13%) do so by greater margins. Fortunately, Ruben Loftus-Cheek (5%) has returned to the fold though he only makes the bench for now.

Christian Pulisic edges out Hakim Ziyech (49%) to keep the same front four as we’ve seen in our last two games. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (27%) and Omari Hutchinson (12%) don’t factor in once again.

4-2-3-1 (31%)
Arrizabalaga (98%) | Cucurella (86%), Silva (98%), Chalobah (76%), Azpilicueta (66%) | Kovačić (91%), Jorginho (53%) | Pulisic (51%), Mount (77%), Sterling (60%) | Havertz (72%)