Chelsea travels to the Stade Pierre Mauroy for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie on Wednesday. The Blues won the first leg 2-0, though Lille looked up for it throughout the entirety of the contest. This important Champions League match marked the beginning of Kai Havertz’s sizzling hot form as he opened the scoring on the night. Chelsea will not want to make this game difficult for itself, so it has to make sure it gets the first goal on the evening in France.
All of that being said, here’s who The Pride of London team believes Thomas Tuchel will select to complete the job started at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday:
Edouard Mendy (No. 16) Goalkeeper, Senegal
Edouard Mendy’s distribution was questionable at several points in the Newcastle game. He will need to make sure that those erratic passes into traffic don’t become commonplace. The Senegalese is a world class shot-stopper and it is reflected in the fact that he leads all Champions League goalkeepers in clean sheets this season. He boasts an outrageous 83 percent save percentage in the prestigious competition, as well.
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Andreas Christensen (No. 4) Right centerback, Denmark
Andreas Christensen was good against Newcastle. His passing was a bit slow though and slow passing from the centerbacks defeats the purpose when you’re trying to break down low blocks. Lille will want to be a little bit more conservative in this one, even if it’s just for the early stages of the game. Chelsea has to find a way to score early in order for the Blues to comfortably control proceedings. Christensen has played in the right centerback role often enough to expect him to play there again. Some fans feel that Christensen is poor in the wide centerback roles and only good in the center centerback role, Tuchel doesn’t seem to share this sentiment.
Thiago Silva (No. 6) Centerback, Brazil
Thiago Silva was rested against Newcastle, and rightly so. The Brazilian has been the Blues’ Virgil Van Dijk since his arrival, without being as tall or as fast as the Dutch captain. He’s just as strong in duels and he hardly lets anything get past him. He’s one of the best centerback in the league currently, both on and off the ball. Many claimed Mendy would not have needed to play those long balls into traffic against Newcastle if Silva was on the pitch, which is, of course, nonsense. Mendy’s only two options cannot be “play a short pass to Silva” and “boot it into traffic and put us under instant pressure.” Talk like that does Mendy a disservice.
Antonio Rudiger (No. 2) Left centerback, Germany
Antonio Rudiger was rested against Norwich City and Christensen filled in superbly in his absence. He returned against Newcastle and while he was way too slow in his passing, he was the only one who was willing to drive into space. Chelsea has only done half the job it needs to do against Lille. Rudiger has been a key player for Tuchel since day one, so expect him to start when fit.