Chelsea will take on Fulham as they travel to Craven Cottage on Thursday night after a horrible performance against Manchester City in the FA Cup encounter. The Blues suffered a poor 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Mancunian giants at the Etihad Stadium, so they will be looking to bounce back as they return to the Premier League.
Graham Potter will probably make use of the 4-3-3 formation and is expected to make a couple of changes to the first XI for this encounter. Thiago Silva will replace Bashir Humphreys to play from the start as he sat out the cup game against City in their last game. Meanwhile, Dennis Zakaria could get the nod over Jorginho in the central areas playing more of a defensive role.
4-3-3 Chelsea Predicted XI Vs Fulham
Defence
Kepa Arrizabalaga will continue to operate in between the sticks for the Blues hoping to produce a strong performance after conceding four goals in his last outing. As mentioned earlier, Thiago Silva will form the centre-half partnership with Trevor Chalobah at the heart of the blues’ backline, as they try to keep things solid on the defensive end of the field throughout the game.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Marc Cucurella will keep their place at the right and left back positions, respectively, looking to get forward to stretch the opposition.
Kalidou Koulibaly will be available for selection on the bench as he provides cover for the defensive positions.
Midfield
Mateo Kovacic, Dennis Zakaria and Carney Chukwuemeka will anchor the midfield for the Blues as they look to dominate possession at the centre of the park and engineer some decent chances in the final third.
Jorginho will be available on the bench and might come on in the second half to impact the game if Potter calls upon his services.
Attack
Hakim Ziyech will continue in the final third at the right-wing position while Mason Mount should start on the opposite flank. Both of them will take the responsibility for creating some inviting chances for Chelsea in front of the goal.
Kai Havertz will continue to spearhead the West London club’s attack up top. He will fancy his chances of finding the back of the net and getting his name on the scoresheet.
