Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has some crucial decisions to make with his team selection against Tottenham.
On Saturday evening, Chelsea travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face rivals Spurs in a Premier League fixture.
Liam Delap’s red card in midweek during the Carabao Cup victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers means he’s unavailable. Even so, there are still some fascinating choices to make in the attacking third of the pitch.
Enzo Maresca during a Chelsea training session at Cobham.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Goalkeeper – Robert Sanchez
Of course, Robert Sanchez kicks off the predicted line-up between the sticks, keeping up his record of starting every league match so far this season.
Even though Paul Scholes insists Chelsea need a new goalkeeper, the Spanish shot-stopper has actually been a lot better than people give him credit for recently.
Defence – Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Josh Acheampong, Marc Cucurella
It’s the usual suspects in the full-back positions with Reece James and Marc Cucurella.
However, the centre-back partnership is not so straightforward. If you look at how regularly Maresca has rotated in central defence this season, it tells you he still doesn’t know his preferred combination.
We’ve gone with Wesley Fofana next to Josh Acheampong in the heart of the defensive line, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if either Trevoh Chalobah or Tosin Adarabioyo starts instead.
Midfield – Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez
If Chelsea win the midfield battle against Spurs, it should go a long way to three points, which is why we are expecting them to start all three big hitters.
Romeo Lavia could start as the deep-lying playmaker to dominate on and off the ball, while Moises Caicedo may be allowed freedom as the roaming box-to-box midfielder to do a bit of everything.
That leaves Enzo Fernandez to play a bit higher in the advanced number 10 role.
Lavia admitted he loves playing alongside Caicedo and Fernandez, which, on paper, should be strong enough to dominate in the central midfield area against Spurs.
Chelsea stars Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez during a training session at Cobham.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Attack – Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro, Alejandro Garnacho
Estevao Willian and Jamie Gittens, who both scored in midweek against Wolves, are the two Chelsea wide players with compelling cases to start the weekend showdown away to Spurs.
Although we would lean towards starting the exciting pair, both are absent from the predicted XI.
Instead, Maresca could prefer to go with Pedro Neto on the right wing and Alejandro Garnacho on the left wing, his favoured pairing for the league fixtures.
To complete the team, Joao Pedro could swap roles to return to the centre-forward position after starting as the number 10 in last weekend’s home defeat to Sunderland. It feels like young striker Marc Guiu could be used as a clever option late on to catch Spurs on the counter-attack.
The Chelsea predicted line-up against Tottenham.