Chelsea team news for West Brom: One injury, many asterisks

Yet another ill timed, unnecessary, and overstuffed international break ends as Chelsea get set to face West Brom. There is always a fear with the international break that players go away to play meaningless games, get hurt, and then can’t play for their club. Well, that fear is mostly correct because at least one player went away to play nearly meaningless games and got hurt.

Chelsea will be without N’Golo Kante for the West Brom match. Likely the Porto match as well. And probably Crystal Palace next weekend too. He picked up a hamstring on international duty and now the Blues have to pay the price for Les Bleus.

N’Golo Kante won’t be Chelsea’s only concern, just the most immediate. The Blues will also have to juggle around international borne fatigue. Thomas Tuchel mentioned how many players started three matches in a row while also mentioning the heavy amount of travel some players went through between three matches in about 10 days. So, even with only Kante declared injured, Tuchel will have to juggle around near injuries brought on by the fatigue.

The players that are most likely to miss out through fatigue are Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, and Antonio Rudiger. All three players started three matches over the break. Callum Hudson-Odoi is also a concern because of a shoulder injury that saw him sent back early.

That already forces the latest manager of the month into some decisions. Mount and Havertz both out would leave the front three selection between Timo Werner, Olivier Giroud, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, and Hakim Ziyech. All but one of those five was away on break and Tuchel already revealed Werner would start after barely being used by Germany. That likely means it is between Giroud or Abraham (the latter was away but barely played) and Pulisic or Ziyech.

Midfield will see a similar “the team picks itself” notion. With Kante out, that really only leaves Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, and Billy Gilmour based on what Tuchel’s done so far. The latter two weren’t called up and, even with Jorginho recovering from an injury through the break, he probably starts. Kovacic versus Gilmour is simply down to whether Tuchel thinks Gilmour is ready for the Premier League’s near worst team over Kovacic who will be playing plenty in Kante’s absence the next few matches.

Wingback is pretty straight forward with Marcos Alonso having stayed back and Reece James to get in over the recovering Hudson-Odoi. Cesar Azpilicueta can expect to line up at the back. If Thiago Silva is fit, he surely starts too, leaving the last spot between the most fit after break.

Edouard Mendy had a minor surgery over break but is expected to be ready to go. That being said, Tuchel does trust Kepa Arrizabalaga with Premier League matches so he may just sneak his way in to give Mendy more time off.

Regardless of who lines up, West Brom is a sufficiently terrible enough team that any Chelsea combination should be expected to defeat them. The Blues will have half an eye on Porto as they look for ways to continue their undefeated run under Tuchel.