The dark clouds that have been hovering over José Mourinho have proven to be quite stubborn, as Chelsea suffered their first English Premier League defeat of the new season last weekend at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
The current EPL champions are on a very poor run of results and were defeated three times in the last four matches. Chelsea have not become the worst team in the world just because they lost to Manchester City and conceded a home draw with Swansea, but they are far from being the highly efficient team they were during the last campaign.
The never ending novel with the first-team doctor, Eva Carneiro, and the alleged disagreement with John Terry, who was replaced for the first time in 177 matches by the Portuguese manager and who is now being linked with an hypothetical move to the Turkish giants of Fenerbahce, have not contributed for the peace of mind the team needs in order to overcome this complicated moment.
There are, however, good news for José Mourinho, as the London Blues confirmed the signing of two top quality footballers, Pedro Rodriguez (from Barcelona) and Baba Rahman (from FC Augsburg), who will certainly be of great use for the Portuguese boss throughout the rest of the season.
That being said, this is Chelsea’s strongest possible lineup for their upcoming predictably complicated travel to The Hawthorns to face West Brom.
Goalkeeper
Regardless of his team’s heavy defeat, Asmir Begovic showed once again all of his goalkeeping skills last weekend at the Etihad Stadium, but it is not certain if José Mourinho will keep him between the sticks next Sunday against West Brom.
The Portuguese boss has proven, in the past that he doesn’t have any problems in benching top goalkeepers and the very same thing might now happen to Thibaut Courtois, since apparently Mourinho will continue to fully trust the Bosnian netminder for the upcoming match at the Hawthorns.
Defence
The arrival of the talented Ghanaian defender Baba Rahman provided José Mourinho a top quality alternative for the left side of Chelsea’s defence line. César Azpilicueta’s place in the starting line-up is definitely at stake and he might well be relegated to a bench-warming condition already next weekend.
If there is any truth to the recent transfer rumours surrounding John Terry, the team’s captain could very well be replaced at the starting XI by Kurt Zouma.
Midfield
Former Barcelona’s versatile winger, Pedro Rodríguez, appears to be a perfect fit for José Mourinho’s Chelsea. Pedrito’s experience will certainly be a breath of fresh air, both to the team’s midfield and to its attacking department, which have been orphan of new ideas and extremely static recently.
Cesc Fàbregas and Nemanja Matic will once again form the lower half of the midfield triangle and William will probably be given the advanced playmaker role. Hazard and Pedro will be the team’s wingers, although the Belgian wonderboy accumulates his duties as a winger with a wide playmaker role very often.
Forward
Up front, Diego Costa will most certainly have another opportunity to put an end to his goal drought, as his competitors are far from posing an effective threat to the Brazilian born Spanish international.
(4-5-1)
