Chelsea Euro 2020 preview part two: England’s golden generation is blue

Following the departure of Chelsea legends Frank Lampard and John Terry from the national team picture, England went pretty short on Chelsea players for a few years. Gary Cahill was really the only player consistently making it into the side before Gareth Southgate’s turn as manager.

A few important things have happened since Southgate’s tenure began. The first is England, nationwide, hit another “golden” generation after years of trying to change its ways. The second is Chelsea’s academy pipeline finally opened up. With Steve Holland as assistant manager, the Blues were always likely to have some advantage in the national team. It simply helps matters that so much of the golden generation is blue.

Had the Euros happened last summer as planned, it is likely the Blues would have had five or six players in the squad. The time since has allowed some to fall out of the spotlight compared to others but the Chelsea contingent still has three strong candidates that are almost all certain to start and go the distance.

Ben Chilwell is the main player that was in the national team picture before Chelsea. With only Luke Shaw as competition, Chilwell has a very strong case to make for starting no matter what formation Southgate rolls out.

Reece James, meanwhile, could very likely play a Swiss army knife type of role. Given England’s somewhat oddly deep bench at right back, it will only be an advantage that James can play in midfield and (more recently) centerback in a back three. His current form might make him undroppable but it is still unclear as to where he’ll line up.

The real star might be Mason Mount. When the boo boys were questioning why Lampard was starting Mount, Southgate understood why. When rival fans begged for Jack Grealish, Southgate understood he still needed Mount. For England, much like Chelsea, Mount is one of the first names on the team sheet. He simply does so many little (and often unseen) things right that he has to be in the team if England hopes to turn potential into silverware.

England’s group is largely familiar to them with few hang ups. Croatia is sure to be the trickiest team as the two rematch their World Cup bout. Scotland will have fire in their bellies to get one over England but they may lack the tools to do so. The Czech Republic always has the potential to be a strong team, but England shouldn’t have too many difficulties.

The main question might be what Southgate does with his formation. At the World Cup, he and Holland took a page from Antonio Conte’s book and used three at the back to much success. Since then, they have tried to make 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 work, but neither have looked as good (or, at the very least, gotten the same types of results) as the three at the back.

With Thomas Tuchel again making three at the back cool, Southgate might be tempted to go with what works and build around the Chelsea contingent. In friendlies, they have stuck with 4-3-3 but Southgate is one to have a trick or two up his sleeve despite what the English think about his tenure.

If England goes far in this tournament as is expected, it’ll be in large part because of the Chelsea players. It’ll only be the tip of the spear as well if the pipeline remains open at Chelsea. Can the Blues turn domestic success into international success?