Chelsea face Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in just over an hour, and the teams are in!
We expect changes from Maresca, but this is even more different than expected.
Starting at the back, Malo Gusto is at right back, with Reece James shifted into midfield. Then there’s a centre back partnership of Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah. Former Barcelona man Marc Cucurella is at left back.
In midfield, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo line up alongside James.
Ahead of them, it’s a front three which sees Estevao Willian and Alejandro Garnacho flanking Pedro Neto as a false 9. Although, there are other ways of arranging that, potentially.
Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Barcelona (kick off at 20:00 GMT)
CHELSEA:
Chelsea's team to take on Barcelona tonight.
Chelsea’s team to take on Barcelona tonight.
The big news from all this is Estevao getting a start, and we’re not surprised. He’s earned one, and getting it in the Champions League against Barcelona at home is probably a nice introduction to the biggest stage – it beats getting bruised and battered by Premier League opposition at least.
The strikerless setup is also interesting – it shows how little faith there is in any of the current options right now. Joao Pedro, Marc Guiu and Liam Delap all offer something, but none is really convincing as an undroppable force up front.
This should be a really open game against an attacking Barcelona team, so we can see why it’s a nice moment for Maresca to unleash the fluid front 3.
In other news…
January transfer silly season has started with a bang – a very unlikely story of double interest in two Porto players at the same time.
There’s even more slightly unlikely transfer news involving Pablo Barrios out there right now – you can check out the sources here and see what you think.
More Stories about Estevao Willian
Enzo Maresca arrives at Stamford Bridge.
Lamine Yamal and Estevao Willian.
Lamine Yamal and Estevao Willian.