Emil 🇩🇰

Late change as Reijnders comes in for Stach

Considered WC a lot this week, but have decided to delay to 10 or later.

2/2 FTs: Romero, Anderson -> Timber, Enzo

GW8

Roll

2/2 FTs
Wirtz, Murillo -> Stach, Gabriel

Enough ITB for a move from Foden to Saka or Palmer later

GW6

2/3 FTs
Salah, Mateta -> Foden, Haaland. TC active

GW5

Rolling to 3 FTs

GW4
Roll

Too many paths to take, but difficult to commit to a chip strat for now, so I'm taking an extra FT and info for next week.

49 pts

Hopefully the team is fine post IB

GW3

Palmer, Guiu -> Reijnders, Gyökeres. Make it stop

39 pts.

Only one GW left before a break thank god 😎

GW2
Rolling a FT

:E_agonypenguin:

54 pts.

Should be 58, but they screwed up on their new assist rule and I will remember it forever, but otherwise didn't learn much this week. We move

GW1

Good luck

I think the Chelsea XI is pretty straight forward for GW1. Limited preseason, so it looked like Maresca wanted to play them together in the last friendly.

A slight chance that Maresca changes the buildup, but I think he sticks with this for now.

He will definitely get a boost from Colwill being out, but I don't see it right away. It helps that he's versatile and can slot in at more than one position in the back4, but we'll probably have to wait until UCL starts where rotation will be necessary

Other than the goal, the tactical fit Joao Pedro provides has been really obvious. In the first half he drew 4 fouls including this red.
Also shows why Bob Sanchez is still rated at Chels as he continues with these line drives to the 9 or winger/FB to go against a high press #EPL-Live

CP getting the near misses out of the way in pre-season... Think we can expect a couple of them to go in during the season

Maresca goes for exactly this, so I would be surprised if this isn't the starting XI for Palace GW1. Tosin at 4.5 becomes interesting - especially if you are early BB+WC.

📌 Use the hashtags #EPL-Live, #EFL-Live, #WSL-Live, #MLS-Live, #NWSL-Live to have your posts drawn into the feed

Aim is to gather together folks who watch live football/soccer (in the long-run, can spin off league-specific feeds).

Have a good time & be courteous to people you don't know!

It was also nice to see the link up between Palmer and Estevao - it seems like they are on the same wavelength. And that Estevao was on corners will help that further.

Chelsea like to engineer 3v2s from short corners so it gives even more opportunities to exploit that Palmer-Estevao connection.

Hato came in for Cucurella so he wasn't tried as Colwill replacement for this one, but he did really well in that role.

I really like what he did on the 2-0 goal. Started as LB, kept the attack alive from midfield, and then ended up as a second striker in the box. Exactly what Maresca wants.

Palmer, Caicedo, Chalobah, Cucurella off at 45'. Enzo full rest. I imagine Maresca will try to get the first XI for Palace to start tomorrow.

Something like Bob; Gusto/James Tosin Chalobah Cucurella; Caicedo Enzo; Neto Palmer Gittens; JP

What I noticed

- Surprisingly sharp physically. Looked much better than Leverkusen - especially the first 30
- Back3 did well and Leverkusen barely created anything. About 1.8-0.2 on xG
- Delap not as involved, but very active in the box. 2 BCMs
- Arrest Jarell Quansah
- Estevao, Gittens can play

Here's how Chelsea played last night. 3-Diamond-3 with Palmer in a free role and Cucurella, Santos as 8s who would take turns to drop in next to Caicedo. Estevao out wide for 1v1s, but would drift in at 10

Colwill absence noticeable as that back3 all playing in unfamiliar roles.

Finished 5th overall in CWC Fantasy. Infantino got a billion from Saudi for this tournament, so I think he should send me a stressball.

Happy enough with the process this year. Got a bit bored with the season halfway through and picked the wrong risks to take. We go again next year

70 pts.

🌍 566k -> 481k

Thank god it's over

GW38
🌍 568k

Aït-Nouri -> Ben White

🌍488k

Sarr -> Asensio