Necessity is the mother of invention, and with key man Mason Mount out injured, and up against a unique opposition in Manchester City, Thomas Tuchel has switched up his favoured 3421 formation and moved to a 352.
With Mount out, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante play in a midfield 3, with Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku up front.
It’s similar to the way the team lined up against Tottenham last week in the second half, where the two forwards were able to link up quite nicely.
An extra body in midfield against Pep’s team can only help. It’s certainly a defensively solid setup.
Fans on social media were divided over the decision, but basically the theme was – Tuchel is the man, we trust him whatever he decides.
We’ll know in a couple of hours whether it was a good call.
You can see a selection of the reaction in the Tweets embedded here:
THREE. FIVE. TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
— London Is Blue Podcast ⭐️⭐️ (@LondonBluePod) September 25, 2021
A back 5 with 3 defensive mid to boot at home🙆♂️.
— becks (@evertonbd) September 25, 2021
Timo and Rom
— Matthew Naylor (@matt_j_naylor) September 25, 2021
As expected and with Mount injured it made it easier to pick this team
— Azigi (@Crespat) September 25, 2021
Chelsea playing counter, City to control possession, but the midfield depth that Chelsea has is incredible
— Total Football Center (@totalfc_) September 25, 2021
Lukaku & Werner starting, this is what we wanted to see…now to see how itll go
— NATORDEN (@NATORDEN) September 25, 2021
Benching Silva a bit of a surprise,but expected all else
— O.A.K (@ObafemiKola) September 25, 2021
It’s a Lukaku-Werner combo backed by Kanté, Kovacic, and Jorginho to face off against last year’s fellow Champions League finalists/first runners-up.
How are you feeling, Blues? https://t.co/T9fssFm8SR
— London Is Blue Podcast ⭐️⭐️ (@LondonBluePod) September 25, 2021
#7, #5, #8 all start together…
Time for more midfield domination. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SiqV4dP6Tn
— LDN (@LDNFootbalI) September 25, 2021
It’s a 3-5-2. Lukaku and Werner start up front. 👊#COYB pic.twitter.com/T1cxby1brr
— Talk Chelsea (@talkchelsea) September 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/dandormer/status/1441712526568275972
Timo and Remo at front
To those of you who wanted timo to pair with lukaku you’ve got your result, hope it’s ok?