The people's choice against Astana: Skeleton crew
Today at 03:52 AM
Astana vs. Chelsea, UEFA Conference League: Preferred lineup
Enzo Maresca has already outdone just about every expectation in terms of how many Academy players we should take along for this journey halfway around the world, and while the majority of them won't get the start, they will surely get minutes off the bench.
As such, the voting form for this you-choose exercise was far too first-team-heavy. Among those selected by the people to start but in reality not have even traveled to Kazakhstan with the team are the likes of Christopher Nkunku (60%), João Félix (59%), and Mykhailo Mudryk (72%) — though in the cases of the last two, we also have extenuating circumstances with injury and illness, respectively.
If we take that trio out of the accounting, we are left with a fairly plausible starting XI, full of every single first-team player on the plane, and youngsters Josh Acheampong, Tyrique George, and Sam Rak-Sakyi.
4-2-3-1 (79%)
Jörgensen (91%) | Veiga (96%), Tosin (93%), Disasi (91%), Acheampong (77%) | Dewsbury-Hall (96%), Rak-Sakyi (31%) | Neto (19%), Chukwuemeka (80%), George (58%) | Guiu (71%)
