With Chelsea choosing not to recruit in the January transfer window or only shipping out Fikayo Tomori as someone who might have featured for the team, that has left new head coach Thomas Tuchel with plenty of players to choose from in the second half of the season.
Tuchel has 24 players at his disposal heading into part two of the 2020/21 campaign and with that comes plenty of selection headaches and trying to keep his players happy all at once.
It’s no easy feat for the German, who has won one and drawn one so far since replacing Frank Lampard as manager in west London.
He’s already changed Chelsea tactically, switching to five at the back but he has shown throughout his career he is not afraid to make moves in his setup for a specific game against a specific team.
“There were no trust issues and if you know my reputation I will push every youngster to be ready and I saw in training today, zero doubts that we have 20 or 21 players that are ready to play for Chelsea and in games for us,” Tuchel said prior to the Burnley victory at the weekend.
It will be up to the manager to decide how he implements all of those players in his squad but what selection dilemmas does he have heading into the Spurs game on Thursday and beyond that?
Left back/wing-back
Callum Hudson-Odoi looks set to continue at right wing-back later this week but there is a selection decision to make on the other side.
Ben Chilwell hasn’t had a flying start to his Blues career and Marcos Alonso was recalled for the first time in four months on Sunday, scoring in the 2-0 win over Burnley.
If you look back through history, Alonso loves playing against Spurs. He has scored three goals against them in nine matches, including both in a 2-1 win at Wembley in 2017.
Spurs fans hate him as well, so there’s that.
Alonso should start on Thursday but beyond that, you have to imagine Chilwell will still be Tuchel’s number one. Especially if the German head coach opts for a back four, where Cholwell will be an infinitely better option than Alonso, who excels as a wing-back but struggles in a four.
The midfield “two”
If Tuchel is to persist with his 3-4-2-1 then he has plenty of players to pick from and a decision on his hands.
When N’Golo Kante returns to action, which could be on Thursday at Tottenham, someone will have to make way. Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic will find themselves under pressure for their place.
Then you have the midfield further forward than those two. Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic are all vying for two places. Mount has shown he is borderline undroppable for Tuchel so that leaves five players to try and fit in.
We’re no maths experts but that doesn’t add up.
Main striker
Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud have both had a crack in Tuchel’s first couple of games but neither really stated their case against Wolves when it was Giroud, or Burnley when it was Abraham.
Timo Werner also comes into the equation despite his wretched run of form, who played more centrally in the second half against Burnley when Abarahma was subbed off and Pulisic brought on to replace him.
Both goals against the Clarets came from defenders which, while not annoying Tuchel, will have raised eyebrows as he needs his strikers firing if the Blues are to get back in the top four.
Tuchel has mentioned enough times that he wants speed and pace up front so that would lean towards Werner but it’s still early in his reign as manager that, well, you simply don’t know who he could go with.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
