Chelsea host Aston Villa on Saturday and manager Jose Mourinho will look to get his team back on track. There are a lot of talks going around Chelsea’s preferred playing XI. How will the Blues lineup? Here is the possible playing XI for Chelsea
Goalkeeper: Asmir Begovic
Asmir Begovic will start as he goalkeeper ahead of the latest signing Marco Amelia.
Defenders: Cesar Azpilicueta, John Terry, Kurt Zouma, Baba Rahman
Branislav Ivanovic is the problem for Jose Mourinho and Chelsea since the start of the season. The right-back has been pathetic this season and still Mourinho persisted with him. But the Serbian International suffered an injury when he was on International duty and this forces Mourinho to move Cesar Azpilicueta over to the right side of Chelsea’s defence, while £14million summer signing Abdul Baba Rahman will come in on the left. Kurt Zouma will be the central defender along with skipper John Terry.
Midfielders: Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Cesc Fabregas, Willian, Oscar, Eden Hazard
Another concern for Jose Mourinho is yet another Serb, Nemanja Matic. After a great 2014-15 season, the midfielder has been one of the failures for the Blues this season. Matic survived an injury scare when he was with the Serbian National team, but somehow he managed to regain fitness. But this doesn’t mean that he will be guaranteed a smart for he Aston Villa clash. Jose Mourinho, during his press conference after the 1-3 loss to Southampton had revealed that Englishman Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be given a chance to start and he will be alongside Cesc Fabregas as the holding midfielder with Oscar playing as the number 10. Eden Hazard will play on the left and Willian on the right. It is very difficult to drop the in-form Brazilian Willian and that means new signing Pedro Rodriguez will start the game from the bench. There are also chances of young Kennedy starting ahead of Hazard.
Striker: Diego Costa
Spanish striker Diego Costa is all set to return from the three-game suspension he faced after a spat with Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista when the two sides faced each other last month. Costa will surely retake his place in the Chelsea starting line-up this weekend after both his back-ups Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao failed to put in an impressive performance in Costa’s absence