Chelsea have Mason Mount available again for their game against Southampton this afternoon but the midfielder is only on the bench as Thomas Tuchel makes five changes to his side.
Mount has missed the last two games after suffering a knock against Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup but has been back in training this week and is fit to feature off the bench.
There’s a first league start of the season at left-back for Ben Chilwell, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Trevor Chalobah and Callum Hudson-Odoi are also given opportunities to impress.
Thiago Silva is the fifth man brought into the side and the only one of them you would say is part of Tuchel’s first-choice XI.
Reece James has been ruled out of the game as he continues to recover from an ankle injury and Tuchel has expressed his surprise that the right-back was named in the England squad by Gareth Southgate for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
“When I saw it, I thought maybe Reece was in the England water polo team!’ joked Tuchel on Thursday. “Reece is training in the pool right now.
“I understood he was selected for the football team. This will not happen. My understanding is he will not go. It can only be a misunderstanding, nothing else.
‘Mason is in the squad, Mason is back. It was not a long injury, and we are happy he is back. It’s obviously a given he is nominated in the England squad and he will give everything.”
Chelsea will again be without N’Golo Kante after the midfielder tested positive for Covid-19.
Chelsea starting XI (3-4-2-1): Mendy, Chalobah, Silva, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Chilwell, Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Lukaku
