Chelsea welcome Liverpool to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night looking to simply return to the top half of the Premier League table.
The Blues fell to 11th in the standings after they were humiliated by Aston Villa on home turf at the weekend.
Graham Potter was targeted with chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ and ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ by his own supporters and is now facing a fight to save his job.
Here’s who he could select to try and take down Liverpool…
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga – Beaten by another shot from distance on Saturday. Standard.
CB: Reece James – Not his natural position and it feels like a bit of a waste, but injuries mean James may have to play as the right centre-back and just gallop forward when necessary.
CB: Kalidou Koulibaly – Hasn’t covered himself in glory since his summer signing from Napoli but the Blues need some seniority at the back.
CB: Benoit Badiashile – Why Marc Cucurella got the nod on Saturday was a mystery that came back to bite Potter and Chelsea. The far superior Badiashile has to start.
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RM: Ruben Loftus-Cheek – The prototypical Potter player that can be plugged in basically anywhere.
CM: Enzo Fernandez – Obviously has a long way to go to proving his nine-figure worth but the World Cup winner has been one of Chelsea’s top performers over the last few months.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – N’Golo Kante is back in contention and you can bet that the guy Chelsea paid over £100m for isn’t going to be the one to lose his spot. Time to step up, Mateo.
LM: Ben Chilwell – Felt like a lot of Chelsea’s attacks ran through Chilwell against Aston Villa. That’s not necessarily a good thing.
RF: Mason Mount – If even just for the sake of shaking things up a bit, Liverpool target Mount should return to the frontline.
CF: Kai Havertz – The German forward tends to find his best form at this stage of the season.
LF: Joao Felix – A clearly talented player in another bad situation. Linked with Manchester United this week with it uncertain that Chelsea will agree to match Atletico Madrid’s asking price.
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On this edition of Son of Chelsea, part of the 90min podcast network, Daniel Childs reacts to Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday in the Premier League. Graham Potter now has taken the Blues into the bottom half of the table, could this be the end for him as head coach? If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
