Chelsea welcome Leicester to Stamford Bridge on Thursday night for their penultimate game of the season. Leicester sit 9th in the table and have won their last two games. If they win this game they would move into eighth on goal difference. Given how the season has gone for Leicester that would be a good finish for them given they win their final game of the season as well.
Chelsea go into this game in third and two points clear of fourth placed Tottenham. Newcastle’s win over Arsenal on Monday night sealed top four for Chelsea. The Gunners sit four points behind Chelsea with the final game to be played. That is Chelsea’s season over but like Tuchel said he wants the team to finish third given they have stayed within the top three positions for large parts of the season.
Tuchel was asked questions about the future among other things. Tuchel said that the team will go through a rebuild and not an improvement and it will be a big summer ahead in that regard. The last two games are at home so Chelsea will want to win them to end the season on a high. Boehly has not been handed the keys yet and that means that fans will still be missing from Stamford Bridge. Hopefully something changes between the Leicester game and Watford game to allow fans a chance to make it to the final game on Sunday.
Chelsea Team Preview
Chelsea will be without Hudson-Odoi, and Timo Werner. Kai Havertz returned to training but I doubt he will start. Kovacic will probably miss out as well. Ben Chilwell returned to team training which was great to see but that is just the next step in a big summer ahead for him. Christensen was revealed to have pulled out of the final and games before that. The Dane is perfectly fit so he might be struggling with something else. Mendy should start in goal with a back three of Azpilicueta, Chalobah, and Rudiger. Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek should start in midfield with Reece and Kennedy as the wing-backs. Kennedy probably deserves to start a game. Mount, Lukaku, and Ziyech should start up front. Pulisic did well against Liverpool but he might come off the bench. It’s a strong lineup and who knows maybe some academy players feature.
Leicester Team Preview
Leicester have their main players back and are scoring goals for fun in recent games. Schmiechel should start in goal with a back four of Castagne, Fofana, Evans, and Justin. Mendy should start in midfield with Dewsbury-Hall and Tielemans ahead of him. Barnes and Maddison should start on the wings with Vardy up front. Maddison and Vardy are in particularly fine form in recent games while their defence with Fofana at the back is solid again. Barnes and Tielemans also provide plenty of threat. They have the likes of Lookman, Daka, and Iheanacho on the bench. A good attacking lineup.
Starting XI Prediction
Third place is still there to be fought for and Tuchel and the players will want to end the season with good performances in these final two games. Leicester will be tough and they are fighting for a top ten finish. An exciting game I think we might see a few surprises in the lineup but we have to give it our all. COME ON CHELSEA!!!