NBC Sky Sports Main Event Stamford Bridge. 2:00 P.M. London time 10:00 A.M. EST, 9:00 A.M. CST 8:00 A.M. MST 7:00 A.M. PST Welcome back, Carlo! Chelsea and Italy are just right for each other.
Mateo Kovacic is definitely ruled out with an Achilles problem. Willian is a doubt with a similar issue and could join the Blues' lengthy absentee list. Kante is a doubt. Jorghino is suspended. RLC might be available for some minutes. Gilmour, Barkley and Mount most likely to be the midfield trio. Pulisic still out, Tammy most likely still out. CHO is out. Christensen is out. Injuries have been devastating of late.
Literally, out of necessity we might be looking at a 3421. Dave Rudiger Zouma Reece Gilmour Barkley Alonso Mount Pedro Giroud Maybe? Reece Rüdiger Zouma Dave Gilmour RLC Barkley Mount Giroud Pedro Anjorin, Bats, Alonso, Tomori, Emerson, Broja, Kepa We are a walking MASH unit.
Premier League Chelsea FC v Everton FC 00:58:07 DDLWD DWWLD Chelsea FC 1 Kepa Arrizabalaga Revuelta GK 2 Antonio Rüdiger DF 3 Marcos Alonso Mendoza DF 15 Kurt Happy Zouma DF 28 César Azpilicueta Tanco DF 8 Ross Barkley MF 19 Mason Mount MF 47 Billy Gilmour MF 10 Willian Borges da Silva FW 11 Pedro Eliezer Rodríguez Ledesma FW 18 Olivier Giroud FW Everton FC 1 Jordan Pickford GK 2 Mason Holgate DF 5 Michael Keane DF 12 Lucas Digne DF 19 Djibril Sidibé DF 10 Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson MF 20 Bernard Anício Caldeira Duarte MF 21 André Filipe Tavares Gomes MF 26 Tom Davies MF 7 Richarlison de Andrade FW 9 Dominic Calvert-Lewin FW
Un-cue Kepa rant from me and yahz Would have liked to see James with Giroud but prefer a back 4 and as Alonso is our main scoring threat
We've seen how things go with Alonso as the LB in a back four. Not sure about this. If Frank wants to go with a back four why not Dave on the Left with Reece on the right? Good to see Willy fit
Alonso is scoring too much, and no one else is so hard to take out, and Az with experience and being Captain gets nod over James I suppose, but I would like to see James' crosses with Giroud Billy and Barkley, Mount as well, I think with Willian, anmd Rud add more defensive cover than earlier with Jorginho for Alonso as well
All good points. Still, with Alonso in a four instead of at wing-back, I imagine he's been told to tone down the forward runs, so his recent goal-scoring streak might not carry over? There are no easy answers. Really underscores how easy it is to play Football Manager with the team selections after the game has been played.
Broja story, hope he gets a few minutes https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10585417/chelsea-armando-broja-didier-drogba/
Zouma needs to be aware that the goalkeeper might pass to him, Alonso saved him, and Kep from being blamed for a ball lost. and 2 balls lost by Barkley oii
There is so much more flow without kova and jorgi in there. I like them both but this has been an enjoyable half of football I'm not sure we see otherwise. Some maligned players really stepping up too. Can we hold onto this for a change?
1998 - Billy Gilmour is the first Scottish outfield player to start a Premier League match for Chelsea since Steve Clarke in May 1998, with that match taking place over three years before Gilmour was born. Youth. #CHEEVE pic.twitter.com/ganRhilIm9— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 8, 2020
I would not paint Kov into that picture, put him in Barkleys spot today and I still think we have that flow (Barkley did have a couple killer passes though) Jorg just does not fit what Lamp wants to do so much and such a defensive liability, Billy really makes a big difference as well as Mount in mf not a hybrid wing a plus too
It's those passes that have made a difference today with a little extra hussle (I know, super technical ) Heck, I'm just glad we are able to talk about what barkley is adding rather than killing. Many, including myself, dont think hes good enough and happy for him to have a little bit of form where we aren't lamenting the loss of a demonstrably better player in kova. Maybe I just have a super low bar these days