Chelsea begin our Club World Cup adventure with a matchup against MLS contenders Los Angeles FC, who are the replacement team for Club León. On paper, we are the favorites for this game — and for all our group games — but LAFC are in decent form and in the middle of their season and we’re practically on holidays after a long-long season.
We do have a large squad available for this tournament, with 28 players traveling, so there should be a way to find some fresh legs and proper motivations. But having options also increases the chances of making incorrect choices.
For the [WAGNH Community](https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2025/6/14/24449395/how-should-chelsea-line-up-against-lafc-at-the-club-world-cup), the choice appears to be go strong early — though the margins in the voting were not massive. In fact, only four players scored over 70%: Palmer, Cucurella, Colwill, and debutant Liam Delap. We do have seven others over 50%, so the starting lineup (except for the goalkeeper) can claim a majority, however slight.
**4-2-3-1 (69%)**
Sánchez (44%) | Cucurella (76%), Colwill (71%), Chalobah (51%), James (57%) | Enzo (57%), Caicedo (60%) | Madueke (62%), Palmer (78%), Neto (58%) | Delap (74%)
Andrey Santos (49%) just misses out and Tosin (42%) isn’t too far off either. Nico Jackson comes in at 37% so some voters wanted to see him and Delap both play. Nkunku scores just 13%. At goalkeeper, Penders (29%) gets in ahead of Jörgensen (25%) but they split the non-Bob votes so it’s Sánchez who starts.