"I'm not complaining about it. It's exciting but a test for me and the staff." Those were the words of Graham Potter when asked about his Chelsea squad possibly being bloated after a significant January spend. His opinion on the matter will now be significantly tested as he faces a number of major team selection decisions for the Blues' clash against Southampton in the Premier League.
Over the last few weeks, it has been a relatively similar team picked by Potter with only minor tweaks in central midfield and in defence. The return of Ben Chilwell sees him competing with Marc Cucurella for the left back spot, while Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheeks have each partnered Enzo Fernandez in the centre of midfield.
Kalidou Koulibaly made his return to the Chelsea starting XI this past Wednesday against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and he could retain his place after impressing in Germany.
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During the first few months of his tenure Potter very rarely kept the same eleven in back-to-back games and the return of European football, combined with several stars returning from injury, could see him revert back to those ways this weekend.
Late on Friday evening news emerged that a number of key first-team stars were set to miss out. Team news aggregator Sam_c345 on Twitter claimed that Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech and Marc Cucurella had all been left out of the Chelsea squad to face Southampton.
He also noted that Reece James is another major omission with The Athletic reporting James is being rested after playing 240 minutes in the last 15 days following his return from injury.
Three of those names started the draw against West Ham, with Noni Madueke preferred to Ziyech but all four then played against Dortmund. Their absence means a significant number of changes to Potter's team and Chelsea may have revealed a few of those decisions.
On a matchday every team in the Premier League will likely post a match graphic that will involve a number of players who fans will likely see in the game. Chelsea posted theirs earlier this morning on social media where Cesar Azpilicueta, Conor Gallagher, Madueke and Kepa Arrizabalaga were all depicted.
The injury to Edouard Mendy means Kepa's spot in between the sticks is almost guaranteed, while the news of Ziyech missing out and Madueke not featuring at Dortmund means the latter would be an expected starter. The interesting part arrives in regard to Gallagher and Azpilicueta, the latter would be the ideal James replacement but Gallagher's inclusion hints at a major midfield change.
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