Thiago Silva will miss out with injury while Reece James and N’Golo Kante are in line for a start when Chelsea take on Manchester United in the Premier League.
Chelsea will be aiming to extend their unbeaten start to life under new manager Thomas Tuchel when they welcome arch-rivals Manchester United to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Sunday evening.
Ahead of the game, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed that the Blues will only be without the services of veteran defender Thiago Silva, who is back in training but is yet some way away from returning. “He did an individual session today, on the pitch, and felt it was big progress. It’s a big step ahead for him, so I hope he will join the group next week,” Tuchel said in his pre-match presser.
Following the win over Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, Tuchel is unlikely to make a host of changes to the team that started in midweek. Edouard Mendy is a certain starter in goal, having been the first-choice custodian for Chelsea since his arrival in the summer transfer window.
In the absence of Silva, the defensive trifecta of Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger have done well and should feature again, with Kurt Zouma missing out. Marcos Alonso has enjoyed a resurgence under Tuchel and ought to get the nod over Ben Chilwell yet again as the left wing-back.
Callum Hudson-Odoi has been the preferred option in the right wing-back slot. However, there could be a change on the cards against Manchester United with the more defensively reliable Reece James likely to come in to tackle the threat posed by the duo of Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw.
Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic have been ever-present in the starting lineup since the new manager took over. However, the former could be set to make way for N’Golo Kante on Sunday evening as he offers more defensively and would be more equipped to deal with the dangerous Bruno Fernandes.
Mason Mount and Timo Werner ought to continue as the two attacking midfielders playing just off of star striker Olivier Giroud, who scored the only goal of the game against Atletico Madrid in midweek. Tammy Abraham and Kai Havertz will be the attacking options from the bench that Tuchel can call upon.
Chelsea Predicted Starting XI: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Kovacic, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Werner; Giroud.
