Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Liverpool: Exactly as in preseason

So here we are, at the start of a new era, with a new manager, a whole lot of new players, new ideas, new hopes, new beginnings. It’s a blank slate for many, including for preferred lineup voting.

While we have some idea what we might expect from Pochettino & Co today (based on preseason, his priors with PSG and Spurs, etc), let’s see what the WAGNH community have cooked up.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Three-fourths majority is good enough for an amendment, or in this case a 4-2-3-1, which is what Pochettino prefers as well.

The goalkeeper vote was however split almost right down the middle, with Kepa just edging out Robert Sánchez. But as far as we know, Kepa will most likely not even be at the game today, and will be on his way to Madrid instead.

Seven of the remaining ten lineup spots are as clear cut as can be, with Thiago Silva, Levi Colwill, Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Enzo Fernández, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Nicolas Jackson all garnering over 90% of the vote. Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling take the next two spots, while Carney Chukwuemeka just edges out Andrey Santos for the final spot, by half a percentage point.

Ian Maatsen was the best of the rest at 26%, with Axel Disasi, Lesley Ugochukwu, Malo Gusto, and Marc Cucurella all getting under 15%. Other than the third- and fourth-choice goalkeepers, Cucurella got the fewest votes at just 2%.

Putting that all together, we get the following preferred lineup, which I suspect will be pretty close to the actual one.

4-2-3-1 (78%):
Arrizabalaga (55%) | Chilwell (99%), Colwill (92%), Silva (96%), James (98%) | Enzo (99%+), Gallagher (64%) | Mudryk (95%), Chukwuemeka (50%), Sterling (64%) | Jackson (99%)