Chelsea face Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium in just under an hour, and the teams are in!
We knew that Thomas Tuchel was going to use some academy debutants today because of the swathe of first team absentees, and he hasn’t disappointed. There are three full debuts in the XI: Harvey Vale, Xavier Simons and Jude Soonsup-Bell.
There are also starts for Ross Barkley and Saul in midfield, Mateo Kovacic gets his first start in months, Marcos Alonso soldiers on at left back, and Trevoh Chalobah returns to play in the centre of the back three, flanked by Simons and Malang Sarr.
Honestly, despite the circumstances, we’re pretty fascinated to see how this one turns out, and we hope that all three kids (plus any who come on later) play well and have a great experience.
They might just earn their place in the team for the next round if they can win it…
Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Brentford (kick off at 19:45 pm GMT)
CHELSEA:
Your Chelsea team news tonight! 🔵
@ParimatchGlobal | #BreChe pic.twitter.com/NTqCb1aUPx
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 22, 2021
