With all that has been going on with Chelsea lately, now we have the simple task of playing against the Premier League champions twice in a row. Oh dear!
The Blues face second placed Manchester City in the league, and oh my would Graham Potter want to avoid this right now. The pressure is already on him after only winning one game in the last eight league matches, but facing Pep Guardiola’s quality City team, is far from needed.
City only managed a draw against Everton at the weekend though, but before that, they had won every game in the league since October the 16th when the lost to Liverpool.
Chelsea will need to seriously have a look at their back line and the lack of pace. Because if we setup like we did against Bournemouth and Forest, City will destroy us on the counter and at pace.
I do wonder if Potter will stick with a back four or revert to a back three, which might protect our clear weaknesses more. Personally, I think we need to be playing Denis Zakaria as a DM, and stick with the back four and perfect it. But I’m not sure what Potter will do.
Here is an attempt at a predicted line up:
I mean, looking at this scares the hell out of me I can’t lie. I don’t want to see this at all, but I’m wondering if this is what he goes with. Mateo Kovacic surely ready to start again from the off, and I can’t see him dropping anyone other than Zakaria for him. Trevoh Chalobah surely gets a go at right back? Anyone is a better option than Cesar Azpilicueta. But Kalidou Koulibaly scares me up against City’s attackers right now.
I’m really intrigued to see what, if any, changes Potter makes, and if he changes the shape at all. I think this will be a good test of his tactical ability and what he can do here, and it will depend how he is looking at things.
Personally, I want to see Lewis Hall and Omari Hutchinson start the game. Nobody can tell me they would be any worse than the current crop.
Mad if we beat City, but it’s the kind of Chelsea thing to do, right? Even still, I’m going for a 3-1 win to City, unfortunately.
