We don’t have much time to speak about the 5-0 win at Wrexham, because we have another game coming up just three days later!
Just as the clock strikes midnight on Saturday/Sunday this weekend in the UK at least, Chelsea will be kicking off against their very good friends, Brighton!
Where will Moises Caicedo be? That is the big question.
This is a pre-season friendly, but there is about to be nothing friendly about this game! Chelsea fans and Brighton fans have been consistently bantering over recent months about a number of things that started with Marc Cucurella last summer. Then there was Graham Potter, Levi Colwill, and now Caicedo!
I want to see some BIG tackles going in this weekend lads!
Mauricio Pochettino will be drumming it into his players how much tougher this game will be from Thursday morning. He will want to see improvements and no sloppy giveaways. Yes it’s a friendly, but we have momentum to build and confidence to keep up.
Will Pochettino go with a slightly more experienced team due to the above? Or will we see him stick to his word of giving mainly youngsters a chance to step up? Only time will tell, but below I’ve had a crack at a predicted Xl regardless…
I think we will see a slightly stronger starting Xl with some of the ‘senior’ players coming back in. Trevoh Chalobah was tired in the last game and Thiago Silva wasn’t quite right, but I think Thiago and Levi Colwill could come into the starting back line this weekend, with Ian Maatsen given a chance to show what he can do at left back.
Reece James should hopefully join the squad by then but no word yet if he will be fit enough to play/start.
Andrey Santos I feel is worth taking another look at alongside Enzo Fernandez with a key decision to be made on him.
Kepa Arrizabalaga could get the start, although I’d not rule out Jamie Cumming, Gaga Slonina, or Lucas Bergstrom starting again if Poch wants to take a look at them.
It’ll be harsh to leave Cesare Casadei and Angelo Gabriel out, but maybe introduce them both at half time. I’d like to see Christopher Nkunku in the ten role, and some minutes in legs for Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke would be good.
Brighton will present us with a hugely tough challenge this weekend, but one in which we should welcome with open arms. We have to test ourselves at this stage, and we also need to see some of these fringe and young players up against better opposition in order to see if they are ready to do a job for us this season in our squad, or whether we have to dip further into the transfer market as well as the priorities we are already working on and looking at.
Looking forward to this one again!
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