Trevoh Chalobah (No. 14) Right centerback, England
Chalobah has been excellent in recent games. He was very adventurous against Salzburg. He made nine passes into the final third and won an impressive 6/8 duels.
Thiago Silva (No. 6) Centerback, Brazil
Silva was good against Salzburg, winning 6/7 duels. He’s been Chelsea’s best centerback so far this season, often putting his body on the line to prevent the goalkeeper from facing shots. He should’ve been rested against Salzburg but he played because Kalidou Koulibaly was not yet fit.
Marc Cucurella (No. 32) Left centerback, Spain
Cucurella was good at left centerback against Salzburg. He made 11 passes into the final third. He was also superb defensively as he won all five duels he contested, as well as every tackle he contested (3). He did very well to snuff out developing attacks with his work rate.
Ben Chilwell (No. 21) Left wingback, England
Chilwell was rested against Salzburg but will come back in. He hasn’t been great in recent weeks but the Blues don’t have that many choices. Potter has shown he trusts the Englishman more at left back/left wingback, which bodes well for him.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (No. 12) Right wingback, England
Loftus-Cheek was also rested against Salzburg which was good for many reasons. One of them being that Loftus-Cheek has played a lot of games recently and he needed the rest. The other reason is that it gave a chance to Pulisic to build some kind of momentum with 60+ minutes of competitive football. Pulisic wasn’t great though, and Loftus-Cheek has been good, so he’ll return.