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Chelsea fans have been left speechless with their weak bench after Mauricio Pochettino named his starting XI to face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday.
The Blues will be aiming to get their season back on track after a fairly disappointing start to their Premier League campaign. They are currently 14th in the standings with just four points, having only won one of their four games so far.
Chelsea face a new-look Bournemouth side who are coming together as a unit under new manager Andoni Iraola. They are currently 16th in the league with two points.
Robert Sanchez starts in goal for Chelsea. Malo Gusto, Thiago Silva, Axel Disasi, and Levi Colwill will be part of the defense, with Ben Chilwell dropped to the bench.
The midfield consists of Conor Gallagher, Enzo Fernandez, and Lesley Ugochukwu. Mykhailo Mudryk, Nicolas Jackson, and Raheem Sterling complete the starting XI.
Some fans were displeased with Gallagher being given the armband in Chilwell's absence. Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) believe Thiago Silva should have been given the opportunity instead. One fan wrote:
"Gallagher is captaining my club when Thiago Silva and enzo are in the XI!!! We are truly finished."
Other fans criticized the strength of the Blues' bench. Due to several first-team members not being fit due to injury, the only senior player available to bring on is Chilwell.
One fan wrote:
"See chelsea’s bench. After spending £1 billion. Crazy. Be like league 2 team’s bench."
Bournemouth are currently winless in their last eight league matches. Moreover, Chelsea won both their matches against them last season and will be aiming to take full advantage of this later today.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino gives verdict on if his side are suffering psychological hangover from last season
Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino recently gave his verdict on whether his side are suffering a psychological hangover from last season.
The Blues had a season to forget last year under new co-owner Todd Boehly. Despite signing a host of new players, the West London outfit were unable to find any type of success on the field.
They finished 12th in the standings with just 44 points, failing to qualify for Europe. During the Bournemouth pre-match press conference, Pochettino said (via football.london):
"When you see the game against Nottingham Forest and after two weeks, the time we have spent to identify why we lose the game, it's really tough. But it's nothing to do with last season. We cannot blame last season. We need to blame ourselves. We lose the game because of what I said before. We cannot blame the past. It's a new era, everything is new, a new season. That is to find excuses, it's not the way to find them."
Pochettino is currently winless in his last 13 away games in the Premier League as well. His side will be looking to break this losing streak against Bournemouth today.
