Mateo Kovacic Chelsea
Mateo Kovacic Chelsea

Chelsea have seen a slump in form in recent weeks and entering the new year, the Blues find themselves 10 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City. The Blues drew their latest game vs Liverpool 2-2 but they will have no time to sit back and analyze this game since they have another key game this week, this time in the EFL Cup.

Chelsea face Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-final of the tournament and the first leg will be played at the Hotspur Stadium.

Tuchel’s men have won just one game out of their previous five league outings but with players coming back from injuries, their performances have been picking up pace. The manager is still going to miss some play players due to injuries but with men like Kovacic and Havertz coming back, the Blues should go into this game pretty evenly matched.

Chelsea fought back brilliantly against Liverpool during the weekend(coming back from 2-0 down to pick up a point) but they will be much happier if they can assert dominance from the very first minute and pick up an easy and no-fuss win. The big question will obviously be what will happen with Romelu Lukaku and if he will feature in the matchday squad or not.

Chelsea’s team news vs Tottenham:

Edouard Mendy has left for the Africa Cup of Nations which means Kepa Arrizabalaga will be the No 1 for the next couple of weeks.

Thiago Silva played an intense game vs Liverpool but since this is Tottenham we are talking about, the experienced defender will start in central defence this time around as well.

Trevoh Chalobah though is going to miss out as he is out with an injury and even Andreas Christensen is a doubt for the midweek clash. With both these players likely to be absent, Rudiger and Malang Sarr should be the two other central defenders.

‘Andreas is a doubt for tomorrow,’ the Chelsea manager said at his pre-match press conference.

‘Trevoh is definitely out for tomorrow because he has had a reinjury from before.’

Reece James and Ben Chilwell are ruled out with injuries with the left-back being a long-term absentee which means Marcos Alonso will keep his place in the first XI.

The right wing-back role though will be up for grabs with players like Hudson-Odoi, Azpilicueta and Pulisic all fighting for that spot.

Kovacic and N’Golo Kante were outstanding as a pair against Liverpool but given how injury-prone Kante has been this season, Jorginho should be coming into the side for the semi-final. Mateo Kovacic got a rating of 8.9 out of 10 for his display vs Liverpool so he definitely holds onto his place.

Timo Werner has returned to training but the manager has confirmed that the Chelsea vs Tottenham is going to come too early for him.

The manager added: ‘Timo Werner trained yesterday, we have one more session to go and he feels much better which is a really good sign.

‘He took part in full training, at full intensity and had no reaction at all. If today’s training goes well for him then we will look to have him on the bench and maybe give him some minutes.’

Romelu Lukaku has caused a stir with his recent interview and Thomas Tuchel punished him by keeping him out of the squad for the Liverpool game. The Chelsea boss though has made it clear that the forward has apologised and will return to the squad for the Chelsea vs Tottenham game.

‘Romelu apologised and is back in the squad for today’s training which is later. For me, the most important thing was to clearly understand and believe that it was not intentional,’ Tuchel said.

‘He did not do this intentionally to create this kind of noise in front of a big game.’

Chelsea predicted line up vs Tottenham Hotspur:

Predicted Starting Line-up(3-4-2-1): Kepa; Thiago Silva, Rudiger, Sarr; Kante/Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Hudson-Odoi/Azpilicueta; Mason Mount, Ziyech/Pulisic; Romelu Lukaku.

Chelsea predicted line up vs Tottenham-2021-EFL Cup

Stats via Fotmob.

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