Chelsea Vs Wolves - 2019/20 Premier League Matchday 38
My Pre-match thoughts
a great football team is a football team that doesn't depend on other's results, however we are semi-dependent on the Leicester V Man U match therefore we are a semi-great football team, not a good noun to describe a team like Chelsea. We just need to 1 point to officially achieve Champions League football but because its Chelsea, I won't be satisfied with a fourth place finish, especially when 3rd place looks more than achievable, this is where the 'semi-dependence' of Leicester and Manchester United comes in. We need to depend on Manchester United to drop points against Leicester City to open the doors for a 3rd place finish, which exceeds our expectations made at the beginning of the season (made by pundits) and marks a fantastic start of Lampard's rebuild of Chelsea Football Club.
We've beaten Wolves away 5-2 in the first half of the season therefore we should definitely be comfortable seeing them at home, however they are a strong side that we shouldn't underestimate and be complacent about, Chelsea have never dropped points at Stamford Bridge since restart and I expect Chelsea to maintain that record in the finale of the season.
My Prediction: Chelsea 3-1 Wolves
Chelsea's 5-3 defeat against Liverpool will hurt them but I am confident of seeing them bounce back against Wolves on the final day of the season, the players know what's at stake and I am sure they'll perform against Wolves, hopefully seeing a similar result as the 5-2 away win against Wolves but we shouldn't take them for granted, they are competing for Champions League on two platforms; the Premier League and the Europa League (although qualification via Premier League does look a bit out-of-reach right now).
My Ideal Line-up
Why did I go with this formation?
I have gone for a 4-3-3, I have dropped Kepa due to his unsatisfactory performance against Liverpool (and other games). In my opinion, I believe that Chelsea should try to get a new goalkeeper (Oblak preferably) BUT I would give Caballero a chance to become Chelsea's first choice goalkeeper for next season. I've selected Zouma and Rudiger as the two center backs as they have both performed well lately (and Zouma is super useful at set pieces, great headers). For the left back position I have gone for Marcos Alonso over Emerson Palmieri.
The toughest decision was the right back position, it wasn't easy to make such an irrelevant decision but I have gone for Cesar Azpilicueta over Reece James for the final game of the Premier League campaign. I have chosen Mount, Kante and Kovacic as the midfield 3 (Mount and Kovacic did a really good job getting forward, causing trouble for defenses and providing assists while Kante provides incredible defensive stability and is quick). Captain America (aka Christian Pulisic) features on the left wing due to the incredible assists he can potentially make to Giroud and how Chelsea can take advantage of his dribbling skills (Pulisic > Hazard), he's been great over the course of this season (especially after restart). Callum Hudson Odoi starts in Willian's position due to how he played against Liverpool and In-form Giroud starts as the main striker, he's played really well since restart.
Frank Lampard's selected side to face Wolves (Official line up)
Frank Lampard agrees with my decision to field Willy Caballero as our goalkeeper in Chelsea's final Premier League game of the season, however he has gone for a 3-4-3 again this time and has reused the same back 3 and wingbacks. Kante still seems to be injured as he has gone for Jorginho and Kovacic in the middle. I disagree with Mount's role as a winger, I think Willian or Hudson Odoi were better options and Mason Mount is best as an attacking midfielder behind the striker or a central midfielder who would advance forward in the game.
Full time, Chelsea 2-0 Wolves
Hello Champions League!!!!!
United might have beaten Leicester (Lingard scored O_O ) but Champions League football is Champions League football, just harder opponents in the group stage. Mount scored a beautiful free kick and Giroud scored minutes later to conclude Chelsea's 2019/20 Premier League campaign with a clean sheet, all the focus now goes to the FA Cup Final against Arsenal and later on attempting a really difficult challenge of overcoming a 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich.
This season has been a rollercoaster ride, Shame it's not a 3rd place finish but at least we've got Champions League football next year. Chelsea hasn't been able to do any activity in the 2019 summer transfer window as they had a transfer embargo placed on them alongside Hazard departing for Real Madrid, appointing an inexperience manager and being forced to use academy talent. We started off terribly in a 4-0 humiliating defeat to Manchester United and then later a disappointing 1-1 draw against Leicester City at home, which is probably the worst start of the season Chelsea has ever made (worse than 2015/16) but Chelsea has elevated through the league table as academy players such as Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Reece James and Fikayo Tomori shined with their individual talents (and used them as Chelsea's advantage, first time since John Terry).