Chelsea vs Leicester City predicted XI: Personnel changes in 3-5-2?
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (No. 12) Right wingback, England
Chelsea has two senior midfielders in N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic out due to injury. They will be eased back into proceedings even if they’re declared fit to play by the medical staff, this means that it’s still too soon to expect Kovacic to start, even if he trained with the team this week. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was supposed to be the one that steps into central midfield in the absence of those two, but now he’s playing at wingback, so he can’t be that guy.
Loftus-Cheek wasn’t great at right wingback against the Whites, but he did make eight defensive actions and won 12/21 duels. The impressive thing about the latter is not the amount he won, but the amount he contested. The Englishman didn’t do much in the way of goal creation, which is understandable as creating from wide is very different from creating from deep. Thus, Loftus-Cheek still has some adjusting to do at this position.
Jorginho (No. 5) Defensive midfielder, Italy
Jorginho was poor against Leeds United, though it should be mentioned that for large parts of his time on the pitch, his midfield partner wasn’t doing much in the partnership. This meant that Chelsea got swallowed up by Jesse Marsch’s press. Leeds kept running at Jorginho, who did his best to hold down the fort, but only succeeded half the time. The Italian international contested six tackles and won three throughout the match. He also had a better passing accuracy than anyone who played in the middle of the pitch, which speaks volumes about his performance.
Billy Gilmour (TBD) Central midfielder, Scotland
Chelsea needs someone close to Jorginho that understands the concept of the term “holding midfielder.” Billy Gilmour is a bonafide central midfielder and he can give the Blues many things. Yes, he’s tiny, but he’s tenacious and intelligent. The Scot has had some very good games for Chelsea in the past against opponents who were much bigger than him on average, so while his stature should not be dismissed, it’s not something to fixate on either. Gilmour knows how to handle himself most times, and he should be brought into the team to prove this again.
Conor Gallagher (No. 23) Central midfielder, England
Conor Gallagher would be the central midfielder in this set-up who’s tasked with running forward to help … the forwards. He would be like an attacking No. 8, which is his best role. This is the role he mostly played—and excelled in—when he was at Crystal Palace. Gallagher is a brilliant player, but he cannot be of any use to Chelsea if he’s not deployed in the position he can improve the team in. That role is not in a midfield pivot, but rather as a free-roaming No. 8.
Marc Cucurella (No. 32) Left wingback, Spain
There’s not much to be said about Marc Cucurella’s performance last weekend, except that he wasn’t as bad as the rest of the team. But that’s not much of a compliment now, is it?