This is a Chelsea predicted lineup for their Europa Conference League return as they get back to action against Copenhagen in the Round of 16. After blitzing through the group stage undefeated the Blues have a fairly winnable tie with the first leg seeing them travel to Denmark for a should-win outing.
Chelsea Predicted Lineup vs Copenhagen in Conference League Clash
How Chelsea Have Lined Up Recently
Filip Jorgensen has started the majority of recent matches in goal with Rob Sanchez getting a run out in the FA Cup. Malo Gusto, Marc Cucurella, Levi Colwill, Tosin Adarabioyo, Trevoh Chalobah, and Reece James have all been part of the back four.
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James has also stepped into midfield where we usually see Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez as the two deeper midfielders. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall played in the FA Cup loss to Brighton and should get a start in Europe.
Attacking options are slightly limited with Cole Palmer, Jadon Sancho, Christopher Nkunku, and Pedro Neto making up the front four on most occasions due to injuries. Neto has recently been moved to the striker spot to run the channels and keep defences occupied. On one occasion, Enzo played more as an attacking midfielder with Palmer inverting from the wide areas due to an interesting tweak from the manager.
Chelsea Recent Form and Tactics
Enzo Maresca has largely stuck to his 4-2-3-1 into a 3-2-4-1 setup but the injuries have forced him to get clever as we saw against Aston Villa with a more 4-3-3-looking setup. This allowed Gusto to Overlap while James and Caicedo played a defensive role, Enzo pushed up to help Palmer in the space outside the box.
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Despite the flexibility, the club’s form has been poor with only one win in the last four matches, that coming against a historically poor Southampton unit. Defensively, they looked prone against Villa and twice against the Seagulls. Even more worrying is the fact that the Blues recently had a match without a SINGLE shot on target, their inability to create goals and a lack of clinicality when they do has proved to be disastrous when coupled with their leaky defence.
Chelsea Injuries to Consider
According to PremierInjuries, there are eight different absentees for Chelsea. Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson, Benoit Badiashile, Chalobah, Romeo Lavia, Marc Guiu, and Omari Kellyman are listed as injured, although Kellyman likely wouldn’t be considered a first-team player. They are joined by the suspended Mykhailo Mudryk on the sidelines.
During his pre-match conference, Maresca noted that both Chalobah and Badiashile are ready to play which will offer him more options in defence.
In addition, Wesley Fofana recently returned to the bench after an injury but he is not in the squad for this competition and won’t be able to feature at all.
Chelsea Predicted Lineup vs Copenhagen
GK – Robert Sanchez
LB – Malo Gusto
CB – Benoit Badiashile
CB – Tosin Adarabioyo
RB – Josh Acheampong
DM – Moises Caicedo
DM – Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
W – Tyrique George
AM – Christopher Nkunku
W – Jadon Sancho
ST – Shim Mheuka