EFL Cup: Who will get a chance to prove their worth for Thomas Tuchel?
Aston Villa visit Stamford Bridge for the League Cup Third Round on Wednesday night
The English League Cup is back this week, and that means another midweek match for The Blues.
There are a number of players who could use a rest for Chelsea this week after a busy couple of matches off the back of a busy international break for most of our players.
So, who will get a chance to shine and maybe try and earn a more regular place in Thomas Tuchel’s starting line up?
The most obvious player to start is Ben Chilwell, I have no doubt that he will get his long-awaited start and give Marcos Alonso a rest at left wing back.
Kepa Arrizabalaga is highly likely to keep sticks as he will be the Cup keeper this season and Edouard Mendy is recovering from a small injury anyway.
Trevoh Chalobah will almost definitely start at right centre back, but who joins him in the back three is not quite so obvious.
Malang Sarr could come in as well to give Antonio Rudiger a rest, but I’d expect to see at least one of Andreas Christensen or even Thiago Silva at the heart of the defence still.
At right wing back I’d have expected Callum Hudson-Odoi to start, but since Reece James was dropped for the Spurs match on Sunday, he may well get the start there instead. Personally I think this would be a great game to tryout Reece James as a centre midfielder, but I highly doubt that will happen. Read why I think he would be ideal in that position here.
In midfield, due to the fact you’d expect Jorginho and N’Golo Kante to be the starting pair there at the weekend against Manchester City, this would suggest that it will be Saul Niguez and Mateo Kovacic starting as the pivot this Wednesday.
However, Tuchel may prefer to keep Kovacic fresh as well, and in that case, Ruben Loftus-Cheek could get the nod in there, but I’d sooner see him playing in one of the attacker roles IF he does get to play. Ross Barkley as well has an outside chance of starting.
Up top there are a few more big decisions to make.
I believe Thomas Tuchel has all but ruled Christian Pulisic out still as being injured, so I think we might see Callum Hudson-Odoi on the left, Hakim Ziyech on the right, and Timo Werner as the striker start against Villa this week. But these selections I am not so confident about being correct.
As I said, Loftus-Cheek could be handed a start or some minutes in one of these positions up top, but that might just be as a sub unfortunately.
To sum it up, here is my predicted line up…
(3-4-3): Kepa, Chalobah, Christensen, Sarr. James, Kovacic, Saul, Chilwell. Hudson-Odoi, Ziyech, Werner.
Simon Phillips