In just 8 days time, Chelsea are back in action again! The short break has felt even shorter this summer, but I’m excited that The Blues are back very soon now.
I’m not going to blindly go into another season with mass expectation, because I still have last season firmly in my mind and how hideous that was. But under Mauricio Pochettino, I certainly have some early optimism.
It’s key though that we get the rest of this window spot on and provide him with the tools needed to do the job.
The first job will be against Hollywood’s Wrexham, with their high profile ownership by Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds, and another actor Rob McElhenney.
Of course, you’ll never find me getting too worked up about pre-season friendly results, but it will be nice to get off to a good start and build some momentum after a tough season and a big squad clear-out this summer.
Pochettino will certainly want to come in and get a winning start to his Chelsea reign, I have no doubts about that.
Believe we will see a strong starting Xl at least, with perhaps a transformation of an entire Xl at half time, which is often the case.
So with that in mind, could this be the first ever Xl we see from Pochettino’s Chelsea?
I might perhaps be being a little overly optimistic by including Moises Caicedo in this, but my hope remains that he gets done in time to travel to the USA. I guess it could be the case that he joins up a little later in the tour. But ideally, he should be joining up with us for pre-season being the priority target.
I’ve always said that I wouldn’t be panicking or overly annoyed if we didn’t get signings done before we go on tour. The transfer window is long, and it’s much more important to get things bang on rather than get things done quick.
The core of the squad is there, we have got rid of many of the deadwood and others, and it just needs about 3 more additions to really perfect it, maybe 4.
But with that said, I also feel the importance of getting a priority signing done before the USA tour, especially as that priority signing is a centre midfielder and we now severely lack bodies there. I’d probably be a little frustrated if Caicedo isn’t done before this game/tour, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
It would be great to get some other business done before this game too.
I’d expect to see players such as Andrey Santos, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Lewis Hall come on in the second half, as well as Noni Madueke. Pochettino seemingly wants to take a close look at these players, with some of them needing a final decision to still be made on them.
With Madueke and Colwill, they only get back either the day before Chelsea fly to USA, or on that day. So I’d be surprised if both started. But with Benoit Badiashile likely still injured, Colwill might be given the nod.
Gabriel Slonina might be looked at as well, with a spot open for a new goalkeeper at the club and seemingly no movements on a loan move for him yet.
I’m not sure on Wesley Fofana yet, that’s why I didn’t include him in the starting Xl. Not sure on his fitness and recovery after his injury last season. He might be fine, I’m not sure yet.
The full squad could look something like this:
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Marcus Bettinelli
Gabriel Slonina
Reece James
Malo Gusto
Thiago Silva
Wesley Fofana
Benoit Badiashile (if fit in time)
Levi Colwill
Ben Chilwell
Marc Cucurella
Lewis Hall
Enzo Fernandez
Andrey Santos
Moises Caicedo
Conor Gallagher
Carney Chukwuemeka
Cesare Casadei
Christopher Nkunku
Mykhailo Mudryk
Raheem Sterling
Noni Madueke
Armando Broja
Nic Jackson
There is a chance that some academy players such as Harvey Vale, Omari Hutchinson, or a midfielder or two could come in to make up the numbers too. Although that is already a 24-man squad and Pochettino we know would ideally like to work with around 25 players. It’s also worth mentioning though that a number of the players above could still go out on loan, or even sold (Conor Gallagher).
I haven’t included Trevoh Chalobah in this squad, largely because I think he could still end up being sold. But let’s just see on that one, he might still stay and travel.
Let’s see come the 19th of July if any of the above is correct!
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