I must be excited for the return of domestic football, I’m doing a predicted line up on a Thursday afternoon, two days before the game and before Thomas Tuchel has even given us the team news yet!
He is set for his press conference tomorrow and we will get the updated injury news. It looks like we only really have concerns for Antonio Rudiger, who had ‘back issues’ on international duty, and Christian Pulisic, who is still yet to return to full training.
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So with that in mind, and also taking into account potential burnouts from players on international duty, here is the team that I think Tuchel might go for against a good Brentford side at the weekend.
Obviously Edouard Mendy will start in goal unless any issues.
I believe he will be joined at the back by Cesar Azpilicueta, Trevoh Chalobah, and Andreas Christensen. Thiago Silva wont be back from international duty in enough time to play, and as we said Rudiger could be a doubt.
Right wing back I believe Reece James will start. Then at left wing back I feel Ben Chilwell might get the nod over Marcos Alonso as he only played the first game for England on international duty.
In midfield I think he will continue with Ruben Loftus-Cheek alongside Mateo Kovacic. Jorginho for me looked burned out for Italy last week and could use the extra rest, and N’Golo Kante may or may not be deemed fully match fit yet after only training with the full group for 2 or 3 sessions this week.
Up top is where I feel we might see one big surprise. This is my total wildcard but maybe we see Ross Barkley get a start in one of the ten positions, due to his impact in recent games and impressing a lot in training. I could be wrong, and this is just my wild guess… But let’s see.
With him, I think we will see Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi. The latter did well in that role in the last game and is totally fresh, and I think due to Romelu Lukaku being fatigued on international break, he might get the rest. Werner obviously played for Germany but it would be wise to use his goal scoring momentum and continue starting him for now.
There is a shout for Hakim Ziyech to start, but I think Callum might get the nod over him, just.
My predicted Xl (3-4-3):
Mendy, Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Christensen. James, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek, Chilwell. Barkley, Hudson-Odoi, Werner.
