Following two defeats at the hands of Manchester City, Chelsea travel to face London rivals, Fulham, in the hope of getting back on track.
Currently sat tenth in the league table, Blues boss Graham Potter will be hoping for all three points when his side takes to Craven Cottage and may make some changes from his team that was thrashed by Man City back on Sunday.
Here we look at five players who could potentially drop out of the side for Thursday night’s match.
Conor Gallagher
One potential change is to replace Conor Gallagher in midfield with Dennis Zakaria, a bright spot for Chelsea since the Premier League’s restart.
Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic had an ineffective performance against Man City’s dominance of Rodri, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, so the introduction of Zakaria could be beneficial for Chelsea’s chances of success in their next match.
Trevoh Chalobah
Trevoh Chalobah, who lined up at right-back against City, could be dropped back to centre-back as it is not his natural position.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly and Thiago Silva have been Potter’s preferred back four in the past few matches, and he could once again opt to use the same lineup to take on a Fulham side which is currently missing Aleksandar Mitrovic due to suspension.
Lewis Hall
Lewis Hall, who played the full 90 minutes at left-back against City, could be given another chance to impress despite Spaniard Marc Cucurella being on the bench.
With Ben Chilwell still recovering from injury, Hall may get the nod – but with Potter likely looking for more experienced players during this difficult time, Cucurella could also be recalled having been a key figure in Potter’s team during his days at Brighton.
Hakim Ziyech
Hakim Ziyech has underperformed since joining the Blues and with young Omari Hutchinson making a positive impression from the bench, he may be dropped in favour of the youngster.
New loan signing Joao Felix is also set to feature, pending clearance from the Premier League. Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic remain sidelined while Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount are all expected to retain their starting spots.
Bashir Humphreys
Bashir Humphreys was one of the young stars given first team minutes against Man City, but may find himself out of the side as the Blues have recently brought in French defender Benoit Badiashile from Monaco for £33m.
Koulibaly’s position may also be affected by Benoit’s arrival; whether he starts next to him or falls out of the team completely is yet to be seen. Despite his steady development at Chelsea, it seems unlikely that Humphreys will feature again this coming week.
Article updated 2 months ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
