Chelsea face Liverpool at Anfield in just under an hour, and the teams are in!
Without doubt the headline news is a start for Reece James. The full back was pictured in training this week, and we thought he’d perhaps come off the bench – but a start in a game like this wasn’t expected at all given he’s been out since the end of preseason.
It allows the Malo Gusto to switch to the left hand side to fill in for the suspended Marc Cucurella. The other suspended defender, Wesley Fofana, is replaced by Tosin Adarabioyo, as was expected. Renato Veiga, who has been the B team left back so far this season, will be disappointed to miss out, especially after playing well for Portugal on his international debut in midweek.
In midfield, Enzo Fernandez is given a break after his international exploits with Argentina. Moises Caicedo lines up in the middle alongside Romeo Lavia, who gets his first Premier League start for a while following injury issues of his own.
The front 3 keeps its places – Jadon Sancho had a nice bit of time off while everyone else was on international duty. Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson will want to keep up their good form to start the season. They will need to be deadly on the break today against a Liverpool side who have been incredibly defensively solid this season.
Now that the squad is truly fully fit, there’s a silly amount of quality on the bench – from Joao Felix and Pedro Neto to Christopher Nkunku, Enzo and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. If it’s all square in the last 20 minutes, there’s a great chance for us to really push Liverpool all the way with our subs.
Here are the full team line-ups for Liverpool vs Chelsea (kick off at 16:30 GMT)
CHELSEA:
Our Blues to face Liverpool. 🫡💙#CFC | #LIVCHE pic.twitter.com/ZElUl1Vlq6
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 20, 2024
