Chelsea: Three key clashes as Blues march on to Aston Villa

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LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 08: Billy Gilmour of Chelsea FC gestures during the UEFA Champions League Group E stage match between Chelsea FC and FC Krasnodar at Stamford Bridge on December 08, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images) /

2. Rotating/dropping versus over challenging

Make no mistake; not a single Chelsea starter against Arsenal deserves to start against Aston Villa. Not. A. Single. One. Even those such as Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic that showed passing indications of “giving a sh*t” do not deserve to play again. Simply put, a fully new XI should play and show if they deserve to start going forward without any questions.

But that is unfortunately difficult. Part of the reason Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, and Reece James succeeded straight out of the Championship was not because they were already Chelsea quality, but because they were surrounded by Chelsea quality teammates instead of Derby County, Aston Villa (then, not now obviously) and Wigan teammates.

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That’s why, tempting as it may be, it may be too much change to fully rotate the XI for Aston Villa. It isn’t a good platform to send Billy Gilmour or Callum Hudson-Odoi out into. That would be over challenging them. They need to succeed in a team of Chelsea starters, not a fully rotated side. At least not in the Premier League.

So the question becomes where the balance is. Who really deserves (or even is fit enough) to start again? Who deserves a chance to earn a start against Manchester City with a good performance? Make too few changes and it might look like Arsenal again. Make too many changes and it still might look like Arsenal. There is no easy answer but doing nothing is probably the only wrong one.

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