Chelsea Lineup Vs Leicester: Here is how the Blues could lineup against Leicester City on Sunday.
Chelsea have achieved their target by securing Champions League for the next season. Albeit qualifying for the elite European competition, the Blues have the burning desire to end their league season on a high having qualified for the Europa League finals.
Maurizio Sarri’s side were struggling to overcome the hurdle on Thursday after they progressed to the European competition finals by only beating Frankfurt on penalties. They have not been on song, thanks to dismay slumps from the top four contenders who have barely won games in recent weeks.
On the other hand, Leicester City have looked imposing since Brendan Rodgers took over the club in February. The English outfit beat Arsenal 3-0 in their last home game and were undone by Vincent Kompany’s wonder strike goal in their last outing at Etihad Stadium. Rodgers’ does not shy away by taking the game to opponent’s half as he likes to attack throughout the game.
Leicester’s hopes of securing the Europa League spot came to an end after their defeat to Manchester City on Monday. It will be an interesting game and could well be Eden Hazard’s last game with the Blues as the Belgian is continuously linked with Real Madrid.
In this article, we shall look at Chelsea’s team news, injury news, and predicted lineup.
Team News
Chelsea will be without their first-choice midfielder N’Golo Kante, who reportedly picked up a hamstring injury when he was in action against Watford last week. The French International will sit out on Sunday, along with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Antonio Rudiger who are expected to miss out on the Europa League finals too.
Before travelling to Baku for the Europa League finals, Chelsea will face New England Revolution in the USA and Maurizio Sarri has expressed his disappointment which is directly hindering the preparations for the finals.
“A problem? We go there for a good reason I think, so as a man I am very happy to go there,” said Sarri.
“But as a coach, of course, I am a little bit worried because I know very well that the team now needs rest. So it is not the best way to prepare the final, I think. I have to look to my players, so I know very well that my players need to rest, and after four or five days they need to work for three or four days and then they need to prepare for the match. The match will be interesting and difficult.”
“I want to speak to the physical staff, to the doctor and then we need to prepare the program. I think that they need three or four days completely in rest. I am not worried about the physical side, I think it is more difficult to recover mentally. Because in a match like this one you spend, usually, a lot of energy and then of course you have to go down and then it is not easy to go up again.”
Predicted Lineup
Chelsea: Kepa, Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Andreas Christensen, Emerson, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus Cheek, Eden Hazard, Pedro, Gonzalo Higuain.
