Update : Timo Werner snub, Trevoh Chalobah in: Three changes Thomas Tuchel may make for Chelsea vs Wolves (a must win game for Chelsea )
Thomas Tuchel stormed across the
Goodison Park pitch on Sunday afternoon
and straight back to the away dressing
room. Who could blame him? The German
had just seen a poor display from his
Chelsea side as they were beaten 1-0
to relegation-threatened Everton.
It was also a surprisingly quick entrance
to the media room at Goodison as
well, where Tuchel addressed the post
-match press, with an understandable
stern look on his face. "Very
disappointed," Tuchel bluntly explained.
"We knew what was coming and
like in the last matches, we struggled
to have clean sheets. In the last four matches
, we have one clean sheet against West
Ham, and it is the only win we have.
So, very disappointed."
It was once again the defensive play
that let Chelsea down. Of course, the
attacking play was very poor as well,
but the defending is the key component
that needs to be right before anything else.
Saturday afternoon sees Wolves come
to Stamford Bridge, with the Blues having
a rare six days off by the time the match
kicks off. Wolves effectively have nothing
to play for, with Bruno Lage's team sitting
comfortably in eighth place in the
Premier League table.
This could go one of two ways. Wolves
could play freely, knowing there is no pressure
on them and enjoy themselves at Stamford
Bridge. Alternatively, Chelsea, who still
have to secure a space in this season's
top four, could want it more than their
opponents.
Tuchel has plenty of decisions to make
in terms of personnel when it comes to
Saturday. His whole squad have had
a bit of a rest, which in relative terms,
will have felt like a huge amount of time
off. With this being said, football.london
takes a look at three changes Tuchel
could consider making to his XI
against Wolves.
Chalobah to be recalled
Trevoh Chalobah hasn't started for Chelsea
since their 1-0 victory against West
Ham United. In fact, that was the 22-
year-old defender's only start in the
last six Premier League games.
Coincidence or not that it was a clean sheet?
Chalobah has played the majority of
his games for Chelsea this season on
the right-hand side of a back-three.
Cesar Azpilicueta was the man who
occupied said position on Sunday against
Everton and he was the man at fault
for Richarlison's goal.
The Cobham graduate has been dependable
virtually every time he's put on the
Chelsea colours this season - in, by the
way, his breakout campaign in the
senior side. It's a no-brainer to recall
the defender on Saturday.
Kovacic in for Jorginho
Jorginho endured a tough first-half
against Everton on Sunday, as virtually
every one of the Chelsea XI did. The
Italian was replaced at half-time, with
Tuchel confirming after the game that
the midfielder had picked up an injury.
Mateo Kovacic was the man chosen
to replace him, with the Croatian returning
from an injury he suffered in last
month's FA Cup semi-final win over
Crystal Palace. It was a difficult 45
minutes for Kovacic to make his return
in, with a hostile home crowd vying
for their team. The game was also very
scrappy and it restricted what
Kovacic could do.
The Croatia international has been
Chelsea's best midfielder this season
and despite an out-of-sorts display at
Everton, he should be one of the first
names on Tuchel's team sheet against
Wolves at the weekend. Kovacic
alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who
deserves to keep his spot in the XI
after his impressive performance Godison
a few days ago.
Werner back on the bench
Timo Werner went on a mini hot
streak last month. The German forward
was finally showing glimpses of what
Chelsea thought they were buying
from RB Leipzig in the summer of
2020 after scoring four goals in as
many games in all competitions.
However, the 26-year-old is now
goalless in his last three matches and
has looked pretty poor in those matches
as well. Werner was nowhere to be seen
against Everton when Chelsea needed
an attacking outlet to sustain the
immense pressure from the hosts on
Merseyside.
The front three of Werner, Kai Havertz
and Mason Mount have been a staple
of Tuchel's team recently, but that could
change on Saturday. Christian
Pulisic hasn't been at his best recently
with the odd cameo performance, but
the American could come back into
the side to face Wolves.
Pulisic's father, Mark, posted a tweet
following the Everton game, although
it has since been deleted. The Twitter
post pointed out his son's frustration
with the lack of game time he's had
recently at Chelsea but also stated his
love of the club and London as a whole
. His father may get his wish on Saturday
if Werner is indeed dropped down
to the bench.
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