Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel have attacking decisions to make after break

Chelsea picked as good a time as any to face so many injuries in attack. A relatively easy run of fixtures saw the Blues miss out on Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Mason Mount, and Christian Pulisic for some time. When break ends, all are expected back to supplement Callum Hudson-Odoi, Hakim Ziyech, Ross Barkley, and Kai Havertz.

Thomas Tuchel will have attacking decisions to make once everyone is fit after break. How will he cram eight players into three spots?

Romelu Lukaku seems a sure starter, though the rise of others surely means he’ll be rotated more often now. His profile is unique in the squad and boards simply don’t dish out that much cash for window dressing if it can be helped. Many have wrongly pointed towards Chelsea’s improved attack being a result of more fluid players up top than Lukaku, but the real change has been the fluidity of the wings. Add Lukaku into that mix and he should improve.

But aside from Lukaku, things get very murky very fast. Callum Hudson-Odoi is the man on form right now and absolutely shouldn’t be dropped. Tuchel does have a place for him at wingback, but the attacking player he’s shown he can be shouldn’t be put back into the bottle.

Assuming Hudson-Odoi is the second (which probably isn’t a safe assumption), that leaves one starting spot likely between Mount and Werner. Both are very different players obviously. If Mount can show form like last season, which he was starting to just before recent illnesses, he’ll be the third man. At the same time, Tuchel does seem to favor Werner and does seem to like the idea of two strikers up top. This could become a situation where, if Tuchel wants a 3-4-3, he can use any combination of Mount, Hudson-Odoi, and Werner around Lukaku. If he wants 3-4-1-2 or 3-5-2, Hudson-Odoi would likely make way to get Mount into the midfield and Werner up alongside Lukaku.

Regardless, those four are in their own deviation at the moment. If fit, those four will rotate only as needed and the first off the bench will be the one of the four that missed out last time. After that, things get murky.

On paper, Havertz comes next but he’s failed to really match his output at Bayer Leverkusen. He is clearly still a talented player, but the sense is that his position doesn’t really exist in either the 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2. He’s probably going to end up rotating with Lukaku now, but that doesn’t seem the best use of him.

After that, Christian Pulisic has to show he can stay fit and show flashes when he does play. If nothing else, a fit Pulisic does tend to show up well so the bar is low for him to clear. It’s going to be very hard for him to find minutes, but he has a chance for them if he can stay off the treatment table.

Then there is Barkley and Ziyech. Barkley did well against Burnley, but everyone knows where he stands. The club had him up for sale all summer and he’s only really playing now because Tuchel doesn’t want to waste a resource if he has it. For every good match Barkley has, he has many others where he is ineffective. It’s hard to see where his minutes will come from.

Ziyech is, perhaps, even worse off. Very few of Ziyech’s performances have been good enough to justify starts. It very much feels like he was a good match for Frank Lampard but is a very bad match for Tuchel. With everyone fit, it’s even harder to see Ziyech getting minutes than it is Barkley unless he can show any level of magic.

But, there is one solution Tuchel could entertain to solve the issue of having seven attackers for three spots: four at the back. It doesn’t need to be every match, but some recent matches the 3-4-3 has already averaged out more like a 4-2-4. Four at the back would make it easier for Havertz to have a natural position and wouldn’t change things drastically. The main loss would be of one of the centerbacks and, with Antonio Rudiger almost certainly leaving if he doesn’t extend soon, that problem may solve itself over time.

These are good problems to have, but Tuchel will have to rotate and be smart about how he does so over the winter.