18 Apr 2026 09:59:50
Jesus, if rumours are true we are without Yoro now too for tonight. Maybe Heaven and Shaw, really struggling to find a good pairing?
18 Apr 2026 11:25:51
Not a rumour, he has not travelled to London.
18 Apr 2026 12:07:52
Shaw is the only viable option unless they call up Kukonki or another.
18 Apr 2026 14:37:20
What happened to Tyler Fredericson?
18 Apr 2026 15:19:37
Spenno, Kukonki played in F.A. Youth Cup semi final last night.
Dsg, Fredricson is injured, only recently made an attempted comeback from injury, and has now sustained a fresh one. He would definitely have been in the squad otherwise.
18 Apr 2026 16:30:57
The sensible thing to do would be to play Dalot at RB, Mazraoui and Heaven at CB, with Shaw at LB.
That way, Heaven has experienced players either side of him, and is playing on his stronger, left-hand side of the CB partnership.
If we move Shaw into CB, then one of either Shaw or Heaven has to play on the right-hand side of the partnership (which is not their natural side). While it means at LB we either have to play one of Dalot or Mazraoui there (which weakens our defence and attack on that side), or we have to throw Dorgu straight back into a high-stakes away game with a patched-up defence (although Carrick has said he is not ready, so we can probably rule that out).
Mazraoui is more than capable of playing at CB, is experienced, and tactically intelligent.
The concern with him is that he is good in the air for a fullback, but not particularly great for a CB. That said, other than Delap (who tends to be a sub for the last 10-15 minutes), Chelsea do not really have any particularly threatening players in the air.
Ideally, you do not want to make too many changes to your defence, as good defending requires consistency. We already are not going to have our first-choice CBs, and it makes absolutely no sense to ensure that we do not have our best fullbacks playing in their best positions as well.
Keep Dalot and Shaw in their best positions, then use Mazraoui and Heaven as the CBs. We'll have Casemiro playing in front of them, and he can defend the box aerially to a good standard if we need it.
18 Apr 2026 16:52:05
Agree, Shappy, although would not be against 3 at the back.
If we, at worst, draw the game, we remain 7 points ahead of Chelsea and in a pretty strong place to obtain Champions League.
Obviously, a win would extend the lead to 10 points and, clearly, we would be in a very, very strong position.
All that matters tonight is the result. Don't care about the performance.
Just don't lose the game.