Reminder: I'm away now for a week - But here's my thoughts on Aston Villa tomorrow and the starting line up

Just before I leave...

Hey guys,

So technically I am on my honeymoon now as I type (obviously haven’t left yet), and I can almost feel the wrath of my wife stomping around upstairs knowing I am doing some ‘work’ before we go…

Haha I’m joking of course, she’s nothing like that! We are both very excited here to be getting away this week to sunny Brighton, it’ll be nice to switch off from ‘work’. I still don’t see this as work though, which is why I keep putting it in quotation marks! Chelsea is my love, not my job.

Anyways, naturally I WILL be finding a bar to watch the Chelsea games in next week, it’s impossible not to, even on my honeymoon, it just means that my bill at the restaurant that evening will be much larger!

So as a reminder - There will be no newsletter or any articles from me this week (I’m back Friday the 17th of September).

I won’t be on the Podcast this week either, but Dan has said he will do one without me and he is looking to bring in 2 or 3 guests to join him to make it a fun episode, so still look out for that!

Finally, here are some of my extensive thoughts on the Villa game tomorrow and the big selection headache that Thomas Tuchel has…

Perhaps this time around though the decisions are even bigger factoring in extra fatigue from those players that played three matches during the latest international break in the last couple of weeks, which has been far from ideal.

The players returned to Cobham yesterday for their first training session back as a full group, and there will be one more session today.

Romelu Lukaku trained and completed a full session, and I believe he will be fine to start due to not playing Belgium’s last match through suspension.

Thiago Silva is not allowed to be selected due to the fallout of Chelsea not allowing him to go on international duty due to Covid restrictions.

Cesar Azpilicueta is probably OK to start as he only started on the bench for Spain in their last match.

Reece James is suspended for the match tomorrow.

But there will be decisions regarding Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Antonio Rudiger, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, and Andreas Christensen, who all played all three matches for their countries these last two weeks.

I believe Trevoh Chalobah will be the one who gets the nod to come in for Reece James, pushing Azpilicueta out to wing back.

I believe Hakim Ziyech could get the nod in one of the attacking three positions, and there is even a shout for Callum Hudson-Odoi in the other attacking position with Mount, Havertz, and Werner all likely fatigued, and Christian Pulisic possibly injured again.

N’Golo Kante will probably start in midfield as long as he is deemed fit enough, and it is looking like either Kovacic or Jorginho must also start there. Having said that, I do have a wildcard feeling that Saul Niguez starts the match in one of the double pivots taking all the above into account.

Then even though Rudiger and Christensen might also be a little fatigued, we have little choice but to start them both at the back alongside Chalobah.

Those are my speculations anyway, it will be a tough starting line up to make and some wise decisions needed.

Right guys, I better go pack my bag! Speak to you all very soon hope you have a fantastic week and COME ON CHELSEA!!!!

Simon Phillips