Chelsea: What is the best XI the Blues can field with everyone fit?

Strikers

Chelsea has a plethora of talent available at the striker position, the traditional No. 9’s. Previously noted, one of those strikers has been assigned an inside winger role. That’s the about to emerge star Werner. It’s ironic that a player who has 10 goals and nine assists to-date this season is looked upon as “underperforming”. Quite. That’s after the colossal transition to a new home, country, better league, team, etc. all the while having to deal with the massive challenges of the Covid-19 situation. Yet still, 10 goals and 9 assists. For many players that’s a fine season-long haul in a league with which they are totally familiar, indeed.

But the expectations for Werner were sky-high, and he had a slow start for the reasons cited above. But make no mistake about it, he is adapting and will be a star in the EPL. That’s if he can get some teammates to get him the service he needs. It’s just not happening, yet. Not really at all.

But for the purposes of this exercise, he is looked upon as an inside winger. The emphasis, “inside”. That’s where he belongs and on the left is just fine. So, looking at the remaining two strikers who will only be deployed thereto, Chelsea is also loaded with talent. On the one hand is the veteran, Olivier Giroud. (Disclosure: always a fan of Giroud, even when he was an Arsenal player destroying Chelsea. That man could always just play.) Now, the French World Cup winner just continues to do what he does, scores game-winning goals as he did against Newcastle when Tammy Abraham had to come off with a knock. He has 10 goals in 21 appearances. No problem. Giroud to the rescue. (Note: transfermarkt has a ridiculously low valuation of $5.5M for Giroud.)

At age 34, Giroud has to be utilized judiciously. He shouldn’t start every game. His time on the pitch should be managed to maximize the use of his talents when he is fresh and rested. Chelsea also has the much younger and also very productive Tammy Abraham in the team, and Tammy can simply put the ball into the net as well. Nice. So again, Tuchel has an abundance of riches at the striker position to be tactically deployed against teams as their defensive structure or personnel quality demands. Both are tall. Different styles, but both score. And both are a handful for any opponent. Deploy as is required by the opposition’s characteristics. It’s called tactical decision-making.

So while my inclination is to start Giroud in this best Chelsea squad, the decision is to move forward with Abraham. But again, the ability to keep both fresh and hungry should be used to Tuchel’s and Chelsea’s advantage. Use them both, and win. They both score. They both create problems for opponents. It’s Tuchel’s chore to choose the best one to use tactically against the next opponent while keeping both fresh, rested, and as previously noted, hungry for minutes.

So, with all this in mind, here is Chelsea’s best XI going forward for the rest of the season, in any one game!

Final XI: Mendy; Zouma, Silva, Rudiger; James, Mount, Kovacic, Chilwell; Ziyech, Werner; Abraham

Who makes your starting XI? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!