Chelsea predicted XI: Realigning and rotating for Watford
The Blues are seeking a victory against Watford. Chelsea will have to realign and rotate their starting XI to have a chance to survive this ordeal.
Chelsea has been set back in their top three race with a loss to West Ham United. The Hammers completed a league double over their London rivals for the first time since 2003. That’s disgusting. A win would have put Chelsea ahead of Leicester City into third. It feels like the 2018-19 season all over again. It was a painful loss. Would Frank Lampard make drastic changes?
Kepa Arrizabalaga, 1, Spain, Keeper
Easy again. Though Arrizabalaga did not cover himself in glory in the last match, this is the first of that kind of performance in a while. Players have bad games. It’s one of those days. Arrizabalaga would have to do better in commanding his area, but still expect him to start. Chelsea has just lost a crucial game in the race for the top four, Lampard would not want to make any drastic decisions because the subsequent matches have become even more important than the West Ham game.
Cesar Azpilicueta, 28, Spain, Right back
There is a chance that he’ll be rotated. He has been playing a lot of matches lately. Everyone has. It would be difficult to rest Azpilicueta in a crucial match like this. His performances have been key for Chelsea this season. Never mind what the pace merchants would try to make you believe. Azpilicueta is still Chelsea best right back, and most committed player. He also has a scary ability to play a lot of matches in any period of time. Longevity.
Antonio Rudiger, 2, Germany, Center back
Christensen did not finish the match against West Ham and there might be fitness concerns. Rudiger, while not brilliant, performed better than Christensen. He made some questionable decisions but he was generally the more solid center back on the night. He is Chelsea’s oldest center back and he is expected to command the back line, he would need to do more of that. His height is something Chelsea needs seeing as Chelsea doesn’t have a lot of height. The defenders have to communicate better, especially the center backs in set pieces. Cesar Azpilicueta should not be made to mark Tomas Soucek in the air; that’s a disaster waiting to happen. Earlier in the season Azpilicueta also had to mark Wilfred Ndidi in the air. Same result.
Kurt Zouma, 15, France, Center back
Zouma is long overdue a start since the restart. It is still unclear why Zouma has not started in the Premier League since football returned but he should start now. His reading of the game and ability to recover quickly would be very useful. His aerial prowess is also something that Chelsea lacks, though he needs to direct those headers better in attacking set pieces. However, Zouma was Chelsea’s best center back before the break, and he should be given a chance to get back into the starting line up.
Marcos Alonso, 3, Spain, Left back
It is in the nature of Chelsea fans to overreact after a loss (and a win). Many look to Alonso for the third goal conceded against West Ham. For a player who is not known to be an expert at balancing his attacking and defending runs, he sure is still expected to cover impossible amounts of space in the 90′ of a game no less. The third goal against West ham was a gamble that failed. Nothing more, Nothing less. It is not the reason why the club needs Ben Chilwell, because Chilwell also does cover that amount of space at that time in the game. Chelsea could have held onto the point, but instead they went after the win. Rudiger was the only one with any form of defensive awareness, when Mikhail Antonio received the ball and spotted Andriy Yarmolenko’s run, it was a goal. Nobody had legs at that time in the game. No one. It happens. Enough of what Alonso didn’t do though, he did register four key passes in that game, as well as completing six crosses. He didn’t have a bad game; the pain of the loss is making everyone overreact.