Chelsea at Dinamo Zagreb: Predicted XI to kick off the UCL

Chelsea currently sits sixth in the table, five points behind the league leaders Arsenal and four points behind Manchester City. Thomas Tuchel’s men have started the season horribly, leaking high-quality chances and not creating enough of them. Now they travel to Stadion Maksimir to take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. Here’s who we think starts for the Blues.

Edouard Mendy (No. 16) Goalkeeper, Senegal
Another game has gone by, and another goal has been blamed on Mendy. Mendy actually matched the highest number of clean sheets in the Champions League last season despite getting knocked out in the quarterfinal. This means that Mendy has kept more clean sheets across the last two UCL campaigns (14) than any other goalkeeper. He did not have a good Champions League campaign last season, and neither did many other top goalkeepers at top clubs. The Senegal international will want to have a superb campaign this year and it all starts tomorrow.

Wesley Fofana (No. 33) Right centerback, France
Fofana played very well in his Chelsea debut against West Ham. He wasn’t good positionally for the set pieces, but that was not on him alone. Fofana is CFC’s tallest outfield guaranteed starter. Loftus-Cheek would be joint-tallest when he starts but it’s safe to say that when everyone is fit, Fofana will likely start and Loftus-Cheek likely will not. Fofana’s aerial numbers are OK, but not great. The last time he won over 70% of his aerial duels across a season was the 2019/20 Ligue 1 season with AS Saint Etienne. He’d need to improve this to be influential in set-piece situations for the Blues.