Championship side Barnsley will lock horns with Chelsea at the Oakwell Stadium on Thursday night as the teams look set to resume their FA Cup Campaign. The Blues are on a 3-match winning streak and will be heading into the contest full of confidence whereas the Tykes played out a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest last week.
Thomas Tuchel will probably opt for the 4-3-3 formation with numerous tweaks from the last game. Callum Hudson-Odoi might get the nod over Timo Werner whereas Kurt Zouma looks likely to make his way back into the starting eleven.
4-3-3 Chelsea Predicted Lineup Vs Barnsley
Defence
Kepa Arrizabalaga will replace Edouard Mendy in between the sticks for the upcoming away encounter. The Spanish shot-stopper will be hoping to secure a clean sheet and impress new boss Thomas Tuchel on Thursday.
Andreas Christensen will form the centre-half partnership with Kurt Zouma at the heart of Blues’ backline.
Emerson will replace Ben Chilwell at the left-back position whereas Reece James will continue to fill in on the other flank, as the right-back. The latter has been given more of an advanced role by Tuchel and will be hoping to put up a strong performance in midweek.
Midfield
Billy Gilmour and N’Golo Kante will fulfil the holding midfield positions, with the former occupying a more central role.
Kai Havertz, who missed out the last two matches due to a ‘little issue’, will slot into the attacking midfield role. The German international bagged a hat-trick against Barnsley in the reverse fixture and will be hoping to repeat more of the same this time.
Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic look likely to be rested after a series of starts over the past month.
Attack
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech will take up the wide positions, playing on the left and right-wing respectively.
Olivier Giroud will lead the line for the visitors on Thursday. The Frenchman will fancy his chances of finding the back of the net when he faces off the Barnsley defence that has managed to keep just one clean sheet in their last five league matches.
Timo Werner could be named on the bench as he came off against Sheffield United in the 75th minute with a dead leg. As a result, Tuchel might want to rest him to avoid the risk of further injury.
“It’s not serious. It is very painful for him in this moment but now, I think he’ll be fine.” – The German tactician stated in his post-match interview.
