Thomas Tuchel has today confirmed that we actually might be facing quite a few absentees in our Premier League match against Watford tomorrow evening, and not just Ben Chilwell.
Mateo Kovacic is still injured alongside him and N’Golo Kante, but there are also now doubts over Timo Werner, Reece James, and Jorginho as well, leaving us very short in the middle of the park.
Naturally you’d expect the next in line for those deeper roles will be Saul Niguez, but he has barely played at all for us this season so that might be seen as a risk. Ruben Loftus-Cheek will start as one of the 6s of course, but the debate will be who will be the second.
Mason Mount has obviously played there before under Frank Lampard and as well for England, so he might be a surprise pick there, then there is Ross Barkley who can also play deep if needs be. Both they are both more natural number 8/10s though I’d say rather than 6s.
Then there is Andreas Christensen, who plays centre midfield for Denmark regularly so he is probably the most experienced there other than Saul. This might be an option we see.
And perhaps the wildcard option is Trevoh Chalobah, who actually played as a defensive midfielder whilst out on loan last season and he can play in that role if needed.
Plenty of options still for Thomas Tuchel to ponder, but perhaps just not the ideal options he would really like. My guess is he will pick Saul Niguez, naturally being the next in line option for the 6 position.
Then if Reece James is injured as well, naturally that will be Cesar Azpilicueta coming in for him, whilst Marcos Alonso is expected to start at left wing back again.
Up top Romelu Lukaku sounds like he will start, and with Timo Werner a doubt surely it will be time for Mason Mount to start again? The rest of the pitch is anyone’s guess, with Edouard Mendy and Antonio Rudiger perhaps being the only two guaranteed starters tomorrow depending on rotation.