Chelsea went out and spent big during the summer transfer window but their start to the 23/24 Premier League campaign has not been great. In their first two matches, they have picked up just one point and last weekend, they suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of West Ham United.
Things should turn for the better this week because Chelsea are scheduled to face newly-promoted side Luton Town and Pochettino’s team should be picking up an easy win on Friday night.
Chelsea had played some really positive football against Liverpool in the first matchweek but against the Hammers, they were very wasteful. The Blues had 17 shots during the 90 minutes but could manage only a single goal. Last season, one of their achilles heel was scoring goals and it looks like Poch is yet to find a proper solution to this problem.
Chelsea and Luton Town faced each other last year in March in the FA Cup and it was the EPL side who had come out as the winners. Pochettino’s team has the firepower to get past Luton without any major hiccups but then, the newly-promoted side have nothing to lose so they will try to make life difficult for the big boys.
Chelsea’s team news and injuries:
The new Blues boss still has a long injury list and some big names will once again miss out on Friday night. Chalobah and Reece James are both recovering from hamstring injuries so they will be unavailable while Wesley Fofana is a long-term absentee with a cruciate ligament injury.
Badiashile is out with a groin injury and with so many central defenders injured, Pochettino will once again rely on the trio of Thiago Silva, summer signing Disasi and Levi Colwill.
Moises Caicedo came off the bench at the weekend but the big-money signing from Brighton did not have the best of debuts, giving away an injury-time penalty. However, a match against Luton Town will be the perfect setup for the manager to hand him a start and we think Pochettino will put him in the starting line up, in place of Connor Gallagher.
Chukwuemeka was one of the bright sparks during Chelsea’s loss to West Ham United which means Mudryk will remain on the bench and will only come on in the second half.
Christopher Nkunku remains out with a knee injury and will not come back into the squad before November and until that time, the manager will have to rely on Nicolas Jackson.
The Chelsea manager has made it clear Romelu Lukaku will not play for the club as he wishes to leave before the transfer window shuts down.
Pochettino said on Sunday(h/t The Standard): “It is not only one side – it is two sides needed to find the best solution.
“You cannot put it only on the club, it is about both sides. The situation is where it is because of both sides. Both sides have arrived at an agreement.
“We were informed before we signed about the situation of every single player. After we signed, we had the squad that we had.
“It is so clear that nothing has changed, and if there is something to inform then we will inform. There is nothing for us to do – I need to be focused on my team to try to perform. We cannot spend energy on a situation that was clear before we arrived at Chelsea.”
Carney Chukwuemeka has undergone surgery and will be out for a few weeks while Mykhailo Mudryk has picked up an injury in training and he too will miss the Luton Town tie. Both these left-sided attackers becoming unavailable means Raheem Sterling will play out on the left while Madueke plays on the right.
“It is a shame for him (Mudryk), but it will only be a few days and is a minor problem,” Pochettino said, as quoted. “It is a disappointment because for him to play 45 minutes against West Ham as he is a player we hope can start performing for us, but it is not a major problems.”
Chelsea predicted line up vs Luton Town:
Predicted Starting line up(3-4-2-1): Sanchez; Silva, Disasi, Colwill; Enzo Fernandez, Caicedo, Chilwell, Gusto; Sterling, Madueke; Jackson.
