Premier League football is back. After the final international break of the season, we can now focus on club football once again for the remainder of the campaign.
For Chelsea, it is a very busy final couple of months of the 2023/24 season. Eleven Premier League matches remain for the Blues, as well as an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City next month.
The FA Cup will go some way in determining the outlook on the season as a whole for Mauricio Pochettino, whose job position will be reviewed in the summer. But there is still plenty for Chelsea to play for in the Premier League as well, with the Blues still having an outside shot of qualifying for European football next term.
The predicted lineup
There is certainly a question over who starts at left-back on Saturday afternoon. Marc Cucurella has played almost 200 minutes of football in the last two matches for Chelsea after missing 17 games before that because of injury.
The Spaniard has looked in good nick since returning from his layoff, and even got himself on the score sheet for the first time as a Chelsea player in the win against Leicester City just over 10 days ago. Ben Chilwell, meanwhile, is not in the best of form and there are a lot of Chelsea supporters out there who would rather see Cucurella than the Englishman.
If Chilwell starts, when both players are seemingly fit and available for action, then it gives you a big indication of where Pochettino's head is at in terms of the left-back situation. Meanwhile, alongside the left-back, Benoit Badiashile could come in for his first start since the win away at Aston Villa in the FA Cup back at the beginning of February.
The wildcard lineup
A bit of an almost tongue-in-cheek lineup. A lineup that nobody really expects to see, but would equally love to see. A lineup that looks incredibly exciting on paper.
Noni Madueke to come in following his last three games for club and country. Madueke scored the final goal of Chelsea's 4-2 win against Leicester before the two-week break, while scoring three in two matches for England Under-21s during his international duty.
He has had his chances this season, albeit perhaps not as many as he would have liked or envisaged. But if he does indeed get given the nod on the right-hand side, he needs to make it count. If he could find some form and momentum between now and the end of the season, then he could secure his place in Pochettino's plans for next term.
Otherwise, there might be a summer full of questions over the winger's future on the horizon. There is definitely a player in there but one that needs to desperately find some consistency.
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