David Luiz needs the start against Qarabag to keep his Chelsea prospects alive
By George Perry
A start against Qarabag will be only a lifeline for David Luiz. If he is on the bench at kick-off in Azerbaijan, though, his time at Chelsea is functionally over.
David Luiz and Antonio Conte do not appear to be moving towards a rapprochement. Before Chelsea’s game against West Bromwich Albion, a photo did the rounds on Twitter of Luiz taking warm-ups with his hands in his pockets. You don’t have to be an old-school disciplinarian to read apathy and casualness into that posture. Considering that Conte supposedly flamed Kenedy for yawning during the post-Roma team meeting, Luiz has to be more conscious of his body language and behaviour. Assuming, that is, he still has hope for playing for the Blues or cares one way or another.
Wednesday’s Champions League tie against Qarabag is a game that Chelsea’s top back-ups should relish. The stakes are higher than most people expected they would be when these teams met at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea need the win, but they also need the win on Saturday against Liverpool. They will have barely one day to prepare for that game. Antonio Conte needs a strong squad for both, and a best XI for Liverpool. He will have to rotate against Qarabag, but the rotations will have to be few and minimally degrade the side’s quality.
The third name on the team sheet – the centre of the back-line – will be the first to look for. If David Luiz starts, all may not be well but all is not yet lost for the Brazilian. This match – the opponent, the stakes, Chelsea’s fixture congestion and individual players’ schedule through the international break – aligns the stars for Luiz.
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Starting against Qarabag shows that Antonio Conte still has some use – some minimal tolerance, if not affection – for Luiz. Even if that use is domestic cup games and the remaining Champions League group stage match, it gives him a place in Blue. It will then be up to Luiz to decide if he is satisfied being called upon to allow Andreas Christensen some rest in low-pressure situations.
On the other hand, if Conte does not deign to play Luiz at Qarabag, the Brazilian needs to call his agent to scout January transfers.
Antonio Conte refuses to talk about transfers or to air publicly his disagreements with his players. His actions speak louder than the words he will not say. In this respect, Andreas Christensen provides cover for Antonio Conte on and off the pitch.
Christensen not only offers an improvement as centre-back. He gives Conte a perfectly innocuous way of downplaying talk of a rift with David Luiz. If Conte shuffled his backline to drop Luiz, or started a fringe youth player like Jake Clarke-Salter in place of Luiz, the media would be beside themselves with breathless takes. They would make Antonio Conte’s post-game press conference and Friday’s pre-game press conference absolutely insufferable.
But no one could seriously question playing Christensen over Luiz on footballing grounds. Christensen has proved his worth and is establishing himself in the starting XI. If Antonio Rudiger plays, Andreas Christensen provides a defensively-conservative offset to him on the backline. Conte can play Christensen and honestly, straight-forwardly say the decision was strictly professional and had nothing to do with Luiz’s future.
If David Luiz was merely a former starter displaced by a new arrival (see also: Willian; see soon: Moses, Victor), he would be a sure starter against Qarabag. Solid enough to entrust for three Champions League points, but better that someone else do the job for three Premier League points.
Next: Chelsea's predicted 3-4-3 for Qarabag: Cautious rotation
But Luiz’s predicament is much grimmer. Antonio Conte had no choice but to close his eyes and keep Diego Costa in last season’s starting XI. Luiz is not as essential, and is much more replaceable. If he is on the bench against Qarabag, Luiz will have more in common with Kenedy than Costa.