Chelsea confirmed the full squad that has traveled to the USA tour yesterday, and there was even a nice collective image of the whole group. Not Enzo Fernandez though, he is going direct from Argentina, which makes sense.
A recap of the 29-man squad to the USA:
Goalkeepers
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Gabriel Slonina
Lucas Bergstrom
Eddie Beach
Jamie Cumming
Defenders
Thiago Silva
Trevoh Chalobah
Ben Chilwell
Marc Cucurella
Malo Gusto
Bashir Humphreys
Levi Colwill
Ian Maatsen
Alfie Gilchrist
Midfielders
Enzo Fernandez
Conor Gallagher
Carney Chukwuemeka
Andrey Santos
Cesare Casadei
Lewis Hall
Forwards
Mykhailo Mudryk
Raheem Sterling
Noni Madueke
Angelo Gabriel
Diego Moreira
Nicolas Jackson
Christopher Nkunku
Mason Burstow
Dujuan Richards (training only)
Five goalkeeper and six midfielders is hilarious by the way!! You have to laugh at this stage, at least at this stage…
Anyways, I reckon Mauricio Pochettino goes with a strong starting Xl, and then at half time we might see a completely different Xl, which is often the case in pre-season friendlies. Remember, Poch wants to take a close look at a handful of players which could effect transfer decisions for the rest of this window. That’s why it’s such a shame that Armando Broja has had a little stunt with his recovery progress because Poch has been very eager to look closely at him.
So here is my predicted starting Xl
And now, my predicted switch up at half time:
Obviously there might not be a complete change up all at once, and we could see players introduced later in the game instead. It all depends how Poch wants to approach it.
But I’m really eager to see Santos and Hall in midfield in particular, and also Carney playing in the ten role.
It’s lucky Malo Gusto came back to pre-season training early, because he may well have to play a whole game without any other right backs in the squad. Not sure if Gilchrist or Humphreys might slot over there. Trevoh Chalobah can play there, but he probably has to start the game. There could also be a switch up in formation to get Gusto off so he doesn’t have to play a full 90, but let’s see.
Either way, I am excited to see many of these players play for Chelsea, quite a few will be making their debuts for the club.
Really buzzing to watch this one!
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