Chelsea at Udinese predicted XI: Tuchel’s strongest 3-4-3
Chelsea hasn’t filled its fans with confidence ahead of the upcoming campaign thus far. The Blues have had a relatively poor preseason to date, scraping out a win against Club America, losing in penalties to Charlotte and being played off the pitch by Arsenal. Thomas Tuchel’s men have looked physically sluggish—which isn’t out of the ordinary for a preseason match—but also undisciplined. It’s hard not to put too much stock into results of friendly football matches when teams look this out of sorts just weeks ahead of the season kicking off.
The beginning of the 2022/23 Premier League season is just one week away. Chelsea has one final preseason tune-up left, a match in Italy against Udinese. Tuchel has already made the claim that he will give a run out to many of his most important players on Friday evening. This means that the Blues’ supporters watching around the world can expect to see a near-full strength starting XI from Chelsea in the last contest of this underwhelming preseason tour.
Here is who The Pride of London expects to be in the starting XI at Udinese:
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Edouard Mendy (No. 16) Goalkeeper, Senegal
Edouard Mendy was actually quite good in the 4-0 defeat to the Gunners in Orlando. That sounds odd to say given the scoreline, but without the Senegalese shot-stopper, it could’ve been a worse evening at the office for Tuchel and Co. Mendy is undoubtedly the Blues’ No. 1 goalkeeper heading into the new season, especially considering Kepa Arrizabalaga is still being linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge. He starts against Udinese and he likely plays all 90 minutes.
Trevoh Chalobah (No. 14) Right centerback, England
Trevoh Chalobah is set to play a huge role for Chelsea this season. If the Blues don’t add another centerback, either Chalobah (RCB) or Levi Colwill (LCB) will start regularly alongside the two upcoming names on this list. My money is on Chalobah, who was excellent during his debut season with the club last year. He picked up a knock against Arsenal, which resulted in him being substituted. However, he’s with the squad in Italy—and Colwill isn’t due to injury—so all signs are pointing toward the sophomore centerback starting again.
Thiago Silva (No. 6) Centerback, Brazil
There are a lot of questions regarding the Blues’ starting XI coming into the season. This is not one of them. Thiago Silva was Chelsea’s best centerback last season, even at age 37. The Brazilian continues to age like fine wine as he anchors the Blues’ back line. Unintentional rhymes—nice. Silva needs to build his confidence and fitness back up ahead of a huge 2022/23 season, as well as develop chemistry with his fellow centerbacks. For those reasons, he starts in Udine.
Kalidou Koulibaly (No. 26) Left centerback, Senegal
As with any 4-0 defeat, there was a lot that went wrong in Orlando during Chelsea’s embarrassing defeat to the Gunners. Nevertheless, if there was one positive takeaway on the night, it’s the fact that Kalidou Koulibaly looked the part during his “debut.” The Napoli legend was fantastic throughout his brief cameo in the friendly. This sets the tone for future appearances, beginning with a starting nod in the Blues’ final preseason contest.