Chelsea’s defence looks like the one part of the team that’s really settled at the moment, with a beautiful mix of veterans and youngsters producing perhaps the tightest defence in Europe.
But things never go as smoothly as you hope, especially in an international break. Firstly, Thiago Silva is playing for Brazil next week, so late in the day that he won’t be back in time for us to play Brentford.
One down.
Now we hear from Bild that Antonio Rudiger has missed Germany training today.
If he’s out too, we’re down two central defenders from the first choice 3. If Cesar Azpilicueta can slot back into the centre with Trevoh Chalobah that’s fine.
But if Reece James is still out injured, Azpi will be needed at wing back.
Could this be a moment for Callum Hudson-Odoi to do the job at right wing back we saw him do last year? Or will we see some other clever solution from Thomas Tuchel? There’s just a week to go until we find out.
