Chelsea will lock horns with Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night as they hope to secure a positive result at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Blues managed to pick up their first win under new manager Thomas Tuchel last weekend when they beat Burnley by a 2-0 scoreline. That victory will give them a lot of confidence heading into this upcoming London derby in midweek.
Tuchel will probably stick with his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation and might make a lot of changes to his starting XI for this game. Olivier Giroud, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz could all return to the Chelsea first-team at the expense of Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Timo Werner.
3-4-2-1 Chelsea Predicted Lineup To Face Tottenham Hotspur
Defence
Edouard Mendy will operate in goal for the West London club after securing a clean sheet versus the Clarets in his last league appearance. Tuchel will opt to play with a back three of Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rüdiger as they try to restrict the Tottenham attackers from finding the back of the net during the 90 minutes.
Kurt Zouma will offer cover for the centre-back positions on the Blues bench.
Midfield
N’Golo Kante might get a start alongside Mateo Kovacic in the holding midfield positions. Ben Chilwell will function as the left wing-back while Callum Hudson-Odoi looks to give a good account of himself down the right flank. Hudson-Odoi will have his hands full as he will be tasked with tracking Steven Bergwijn’s runs out on the wide areas.
The dynamic duo of Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech will operate as the free-flowing attacking midfielders as they focus on engineering some decent goal-scoring opportunities for others around him. Jorginho, Reece James and Christian Pulisic will be available for selection on Tuchel’s bench but could come on to influence the game in the latter stages if required.
Attack
Olivier Giroud will spearhead the Chelsea attack up top. A goal in the London derby later this week could do his confidence a world of good. Tammy Abraham will drop to the bench as he would need to wait for his chance to shine as a late-game substitute if Tuchel decides to use his services off the bench.
