Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Tottenham: Lukaku not included

It’s been a difficult few weeks for Chelsea and it’s become crucial that we go into the brief winter break with a winning feeling. In order to do so, we have to take on and beat Tottenham for the third time this month. The good thing is that the injury crisis has slowly died down, but the team spirit has undoubtedly suffered after several disappointing results. Time to make amends.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Despite the success of Tuchel’s 4-2-2-2 (19%) against Spurs in the League Cup, the WAGNH community has stuck with the 3-4-3 by a wide margin, with the other formations — 4-2-3-1 (15%), 4-3-3 (12%), 3-5-2 (12%) — all splitting the rest of the vote evenly. If we combine them, formations featuring a back-three (53%) still narrowly edge out formations featuring a back-four (46%).

There’s no debate at goalkeeper however, with Kepa Arrizabalaga remaining the firm preferred choice over Marcus Bettinelli (1%) in Édouard Mendy’s absence.

While Trevoh Chalobah has returned to training this week, he’s not expected to be ready to play, so there’s little to oppose Malang Sarr joining near-unanimous choices Thiago Silva and Antonio Rüdiger. There was a bit of competition at left wing-back for Marcos Alonso, in Kenedy (12%) and Lewis Hall (9%); César Azpilicueta practically ran unopposed on the others side.

In midfield, it’s Jorginho (46%) who misses out this time in favor of N’Golo Kanté and Mateo Kovačić. None of Ruben Loftus-Cheek (6%), Saúl Niguez (7%), Ross Barkley (1%) or youngster Harvey Vale (1%) come anywhere close to contesting for a spot.

Mason Mount hasn’t been on top of his game recently, but he remains a vital cog in the machinery, unlike Romelu Lukaku (51%), who gets relegated to the bench after another lackluster performance. Kai Havertz leads the line and is joined by compatriot Timo Werner, who beats out Hakim Ziyech (17%), Christian Pulisic (36%) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (29%).

3-4-3 (43%)
Arrizabalaga (98%) | Sarr (61%), Silva (99%), Rüdiger (99%) | Alonso (52%), Kanté (81%), Kovačić (82%), Azpilicueta (91%) | Werner (62%), Havertz (76%), Mount (83%)