Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Real Madrid: Save us, Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kanté!

Nothing is going right for Chelsea at the moment and Frank Lampard’s return hasn’t brought about the desired positive effect as of yet. But the next game is a knockout tie against Real Madrid and the magnitude of the occasion should surely motivate a near fully fit squad to break this terrible series and bring home the glory.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The WAGNH community set out to do exactly that by keeping to what seems to work best — the 3-4-3 formation. The 3-5-2 (24%) comes in second and you can immediately see that the vast majority don’t remotely consider a 4 at the back (21% combined). Kepa Arrizabalaga keeps his spot ahead of Lampard’s former number one, Édouard Mendy (22%); at least for now.

The biggest news of the day has been that Thiago Silva is fit to start and he jumps straight into the back three next to Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana. Trevoh Chalobah (21%) got some minutes at the weekend but lacks match fitness. Reece James and Ben Chilwell are obvious starters; Marc Cucurella (22%) deservedly rotates out of the side.

After being rested against Wolves, N’Golo Kanté is ready to go and do his thing against the current Champions of Europe. Enzo Fernández is his partner in crime and the duo will look to dominate a very strong midfield. Mateo Kovačić (43%) makes way, joining Conor Gallagher (11%), Denis Zakaria (4%) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (9%) on the bench.

Raheem Sterling still starts after dropping a stinker though you’d think Mason Mount (17%) would have had a good shout had his late inclusion in the squad been known earlier. While similarly poor, Kai Havertz also gets to start again due to a lack of options; João Felix remains clearly favoured over Christian Pulisic (24%) and Mykhailo Mudryk (29%).

3-4-3 (45%)
Arrizabalaga (71%) | Koulibaly (80%), Silva (47%), Fofana (96%) | Chilwell (97%), Kanté (96%), Enzo (95%), James (99%) | Sterling (62%), Havertz (52%), Félix (77%)