Chelsea face Brentford at Stamford Bridge in just over an hour, and the teams are in!
Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Brentford (kick off at 15:00 GMT)
CHELSEA:
Chelsea's team to face Brentford.
Chelsea’s team to face Brentford.
After two cup games, we were curious to see a league lineup from new manager Liam Rosenior.
There are still few interesting absences, but you can see his thinking for the team here.
Robert Sanchez is in goal, looking to make up for some midweek mistakes. Most importantly, Reece James returns to play at right back. It’s Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin in the middle, and Marc Cucurella on the left.
In midfield, we don’t see the Andrey Santos – Moises Caicedo double pivot we were expecting. Instead it’s Enzo Fernandez alongside Caicedo.
That makes space for Cole Palmer’s return in the number ten. He’s flanked by Alejandro Garnacho, following his midweek brace, and Pedro Neto.
Joao Pedro is not in form but still gets to lead the line. Liam Delap feels like Rosenior’s first choice 9, but he had an illness this week which prevented him training, so he’s only on the bench.
There are some notable players absent from the squad entirely – including Estevao. We can only assume that the virus that hit the likes of Delap earlier in the week has been picked up by others.
After an easy game and a hard game, this is a perfect medium-level test for Rosenior. Let’s hope he passes it.
In other news…
Trevoh Chalobah has a big interview with Match of the Day this weekend, and they’ve already released an interesting clip of him naming his top 3 central defenders.
While Chelsea delay, their sister club is getting into gear. Strasbourg have already agreed a €7m deal for a talented attacking midfielder who will apparently take his medical today.
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