Mason Mount, Reece James and Ben Chilwell will return when Chelsea welcome Burnley to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Chelsea will be aiming to consolidate their place at the top of the Premier League table when they play hosts to Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon. And Thomas Tuchel has greeted a mixed bag of updates on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Mason Mount is available after overcoming an illness borne out of an infection in his wisdom tooth. While the English international will be assessed ahead of the game, he should feature against Burnley. However, Marcos Alonso misses out for Chelsea after sustaining an ankle injury earlier this week in the UEFA Champions League tie with Malmo FF.
The Spanish international has joined Mateo Kovacic (hamstring), Romelu Lukaku (ankle) and Timo Werner (hamstring) on the sidelines, with the quartet set to miss out against Burnley. In his pre-match press conference, Tuchel spoke about the injured players as well as Mount.
“There is no news for the match tomorrow for Romelu and Timo. Both of them are out and Mateo is still out as well. Unfortunately, Marcos Alonso injured himself in the very last minute during the Malmo match. He tried now to come for training but the stress is too high on the ankle, it’s nothing big but too painful at the moment so he will not be in the squad tomorrow.”
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“It’s a tricky one. He [Mount] was ill but the reason was his wisdom tooth and a bit of an infection. He was back in training yesterday and today but he has lost a bit of weight because he cannot eat properly so he is taking medication and let’s see. He’s in the squad for tomorrow and can play some minutes but we will need to wait for the reaction because it seems like a proper treatment needs to be done.”
Judging by Tuchel’s comments on Mount, it seems unlikely that he will start. However, we expect the English international to feature from the get-go before being taken off sometime in the second half. So, Hakim Ziyech ought to make way for Mount, who will join Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz in the attacking unit.
In midfield, the absence of Kovacic leaves Tuchel with Jorginho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kante as his viable options. Kante and Jorginho could get the nod in the middle of the park, even though Loftus-Cheek was brilliant against Malmo. Out wide, Alonso’s absence means Ben Chilwell is a certain starter as the left wing-back, although his starting position was in no doubt.
Reece James will replace Cesar Azpilicueta as the right wing-back. The Chelsea captain is likely to drop into the back three, with Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger being his central defensive partners. Finally, in goal, there is no looking past Edouard Mendy.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell; Mount, Hudson-Odoi; Havertz
