Chelsea at Tottenham: 3 Blues Graham Potter must start

Hakim Ziyech (No. 22) Right Winger, Morocco

This may be a surprising pick though it shouldn’t be. Chelsea’s best games this season under Potter has been with Hakim Ziyech on the pitch. The Crystal Palace home game, the Liverpool away game, and the Borussia Dortmund away game saw the Blues create chances for fun while been generally defensively solid. Ziyech played a significant part in this.

In the Crystal Palace game, Chelsea created four big chances, the most they’ve created under Potter. In that game Ziyech recorded 7 Shot-Creating Actions (SCAs), nine progressive passes, four progressive carries and  4/6 completed dribbles ranking first in all those metrics. He also created two chances, including a clear cut chance.

In the Liverpool game, Chelsea, again, created four clear cut chances, taking 11 shots at an average of 0.15 xG per shot which is quite high regarding the xG/shot stat. Ziyech, again, ranked first for expected assisted goals (xAG), progressive passes, SCAs, progressive carries, and created two big chances in that game.

He replicated many of those things against Borussia Dortmund, this time ranking second in most of them including progressive passes (8) and progressive carries (5), though ranking first in SCAs (7) and completing 2/2 dribbles. He also created the best chance of the Fulham home game, despite not having a great game himself.

It was one of two big chances the Blues got in that game. In a game of this magnitude, Potter needs someone disciplined enough to press when necessary, help the team flow in the final third and create high quality chances himself out of nowhere. That is Ziyech, as he has consistently done in several games for Chelsea in recent weeks.

Which other players should start for CFC?