Chelsea make the trip to Craven Cottage for Monday’s Premier League derby against Fulham.
The London giants have been poor at the start of the season and they have just 5 points on the board after 6 games into the campaign. Chelsea are already playing catch up in the race for the Champions League spots and Monday night’s game is already a must-win for them and manager Mauricio Pochettino. Here is how they are expected to line-up against Fulham.
Goalkeeper: Robert Sanchez has been unchanged in goal since his summer move from Brighton & Hove Albion. He has played 90 minutes in each game for Chelsea and is expected to start ahead of Djordje Petrovic, who is the 2nd choice goalkeeper and has yet to make his debut for them.
Defence: Malo Gusto is suspended for another 2 games after his sending off in the Aston Villa loss. The club suffered another huge blow on Wednesday with Ben Chilwell suffering a hamstring injury. At Fulham, Thiago Silva and Levi Colwill are likely to start in central defence with Disasi playing as the makeshift right-back. The injury to Chilwell opens the door for Marc Cucurella to make his first league appearance of the season from left-back. The Spaniard was superb from right-back against Brighton in the League Cup 3rd round in midweek.
Midfield: Pochettino is likely to persist with a 4-2-3-1 set-up with Enzo Fernandez in the no.10 role. Behind the Argentine, it could be Moises Caicedo and Conor Gallagher with Lesley Ogochukwu dropping to the substitutes’ bench. Cole Palmer, who started in the attacking midfield spot on Wednesday, could be playing on the right wing to compensate for Nicolas Jackson’s absence.
Attack: As said above, Palmer could start on the right flank with Raheem Sterling expected to lead the attack. Jackson is suspended for accumulating 5 yellow cards in the Premier League. Mykhailo Mudryk deserves to start on the left wing amid his improved displays. Aside from Jackson, Ian Maatsen is the obvious candidate to drop to the bench from the 1-0 win vs Brighton.
Expected Chelsea line-up to face Fulham
