There’s excitement ahead of this weekend with Chelsea set to potentially hand new signing Romelu Lukaku his first Premier League start since returning to Stamford Bridge.
The Belgium international completed his £97.5million move from Inter Milan last week but was not included in the club’s squad for Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
He will be available for this weekend’s trip to Arsenal though, sparking conversations among Blues fans about which way Thomas Tuchel might line up his Chelsea attack.
Pretty much for the entirety of Tuchel’s time in charge of the Blues so far, the German has deployed variations of a three-at-the-back formation with the attack often set up in a 2-1 shape, like seen below in Saturday’s win vs Palace.
Although it was Timo Werner leading the line in that fixture, the money paid for Lukaku indicates that he’s undoubtedly going to be the player spearheading the attack in that set-up going forward.
Yet at this stage, it’s tough to predict who’ll occupy the positions behind him with Tuchel blessed with a plethora of elite attacking talents such as Werner, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Whilst the decision isn’t easy, one attacker from that group who perhaps warrants a starring role more than most is Mount who proved to be Chelsea’s best and most consistent performer last season.
In the league alone, he scored six goals and registered a further five assists. He also averaged 5.08 shot-creating actions per 90 which was bettered by only three other players across the whole division - Kevin De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes and Ziyech.
Though this at a glance reflects well on Ziyech, his average of 5.38 per 90 is only marginally better than Mount’s, but crucially the England man played nearly three times as many minutes.
Ziyech has shown with those numbers that he’d have the potential to be considered as a starter in the attack, but it would remain to be seen as to whether he could sustain those high numbers featuring in as many matches as Mount did last season.
It’s a similar story for each of Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi, both of whom impress when watching them, and within the data, however perhaps haven’t yet shown they should be picked ahead of other attacking candidates when Chelsea are at full strength.
The beauty of Mount beyond his ability to create a consistent pipeline of goalscoring opportunities for Lukaku is that he has an almost unrivalled work rate without the ball.
No Blues attacker who played more than 1,000 minutes made more pressures inside the attacking third than the 22-year-old last season, and although Lukaku has proven he’s no slouch in leading a press from the front during his time with Inter, the right supporting cast around him will be key.
In order to complete the trio, the choice falls between Havertz and Werner. The latter has been used most often as a centre-forward by Tuchel, and could remain as one should the Chelsea boss adapt his side’s formation, perhaps adopting a 3-5-2, similar to the one Lukaku played in under Antonio Conte last season.
The Belgium striker and fellow forward Lautaro Martinez linked superbly within the same, scoring goals, stretching defences, dropping into pockets and creating chances for each other - both registered a combined 13 Serie A assists last season. Werner too could benefit as he most often played in an attacking two for RB Leipzig.
If Tuchel was to stick to his current set up though, then there’s probably a greater case to be made that Havertz should be playing alongside Chelsea’s new No.9.
Whilst Werner is capable of the more penetrative runs in behind, pulling apart defensive lines and creating spaces for Lukaku, it’s Havertz who has the better all-around technical ability.
He’s able to better influence play in the attacking third with clever positioning, acute passes and one-touch football, plus both his final ball delivery and finishing are much more consistent. For that reason, don’t be surprised to see the German complete the Chelsea attack.
Whichever way Tuchel goes, it’s sure to be exciting. Plus, the sheer amount of attacking options Chelsea have means that we shouldn’t see a huge drop off in creative output when fixtures begin to pile up and rotation is required.
This is good news for Lukaku, which in turn is great news for Chelsea and their title aspirations this season.
