Chelsea face LAFC in Philadelphia in the first game of the Club World Cup just over an hour, and the teams are in!
We were expecting Chelsea to take this tournament very seriously, but even considering that, this is a wildly strong team.
If we were playing the Champions League final today, we reckon Enzo Maresca would have gone for this same team. The only true first team player missing is Enzo Fernandez, and even then that’s likely just because of his international exertions with Argentina.
That means Robert Sanchez in goal, Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill at centre back, with Reece James and Marc Cucurella at full back.
Ahead of them, Romeo Lavia and Caicedo make up the double pivot, with Cole Palmer playing the free role in midfield ahead of them.
Chelsea fans will have to wait a little to see new signing Liam Delap in action. He’s on the bench, so Nicolas Jackson leads the line. He’s flanked by Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto.
As well as Delap, fans are super excited to see the returning Andrey Santos, who is also benched, as well as new face Dario Essugo. We’d expect some wholesale changes in the second half, especially if the Blues build up a good lead.
Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs LAFC (kick off at 20:00 BST)
CHELSEA:
Chelsea's team to face LAFC in the Club World Cup.
Chelsea’s team to face LAFC in the Club World Cup.
No messing around from Enzo Maresca’s full power Blues
Well, the manager has put his money where his mouth is and picked a proper team. Given our next game against Flamengo is our hardest, we expect a lot of this team to play again on Friday.
There really is no rest for these poor players, who will be keen to go all the way in this tournament.
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Enzo Maresca arrives at Stamford Bridge.