Mudryk hint, Colwill new role: Five things spotted in Chelsea training ahead of Bournemouth tie
Sunday afternoon, Bournemouth will host Chelsea at the Vitality Stadium. This is already looking like a must-win game for Mauricio Pochettino.
When Chelsea plays Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Mauricio Pochettino will be looking to get back to winning. Before the international break, the Blues lost to Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge, which was a big disappointment.
The Cherries will try to get their first three points of the season after Bryan Mbuemo saved a point for Brentford late in the game. Pochettino is still waiting for a few players to come back from international duty, but he has been able to work with some important pieces of the plan.
Mudryk and Chilwell join forces
Mykhailo Mudryk hasn’t had many chances to play with the first team. He survives on cameos in games where the Blues are often looking for a goal against a weak defense. In fact, he’s only ever played 90 minutes in a Premier League game once, and he’s only started seven of them.
The U k r a I n e international has never started more than two games in a row for the west Londoners, but he has gotten most of the blame for Chelsea’s slow start under Todd Boehly. So, many fans have asked Pochettino to finally put Mudryk on the left wing and move Ben Chilwell back to the left back position.
During a training practice, the two players were on the same team, which is an interesting fact. Perhaps the Blues manager has plans to switch up his starting lineup.
Broja and Badiashile return
Armando Broja and Benoit Badiashile were seen in the middle of the action and back to training with the first team as usual after getting hurt. Even though neither of them will probably be put in the middle of the action against Bournemouth, they will be looking for a few minutes on the south coast.
Palmer and Colwill roles
Our “bib theory” says that Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill could be ready to start. The two players were the only ones at Chelsea training to wear a baby blue bib, which suggests that they were the “magic men” who play on the team that has the ball during a rondo or small-sided game.
By putting in a “magic man,” the players learn how to pass the ball to make space for themselves and their partners. In what looked like a small-sided game, Palmer and Colwill could have taken turns being the “magic man.” This would have allowed Palmer to play in the middle while Colwill moved to left center-half.
Petrovic involved
Djordje Petrovic was called up to the Serbia national team after Chelsea signed him from the New England Revolution over the summer. Pochettino hasn’t been given much of a reason to drop Robert Sanchez, but the 23-year-old looked eager to show what he could do.
Washington wildcard
Deivid Washington, who came from Santos to play for the Blues at the end of the summer trade window, was also seen in action. The 18-year-old prodigy gives Pochettino a surprise option off the bench, and since Broja hasn’t fully recovered from his injury, he could be very useful this weekend.