Antonio Rudiger (£4.6m) is back in Chelsea’s defence, as head coach Thomas Tuchel continues to earn a reputation for tinkering with his personnel.
The west London side have been in fantastic form since the managerial change, winning eight games out of 11 in all competitions and only conceding two goals.
So far, Tuchel’s squad rotation has been based around a wing-back system. Yet he faces Leeds with both Reece James (£5.0m) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.7m) on the bench and four defenders, including Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.8m), Andreas Christensen (£4.7m) and Ben Chilwell (£5.8m).
Striker Timo Werner (£9.2m) is also amongst the substitutes, after scoring only once in his last 1,329 Premier League minutes. Instead, Tuchel opts for a front-four of Mason Mount (£7.0m), Hakim Ziyech (£7.9m), Christian Pulisic (£8.2m) and Kai Havertz (£8.2m), none of whom are traditional strikers, the latter believed to be at false-nine today.
There is still a possibility that Ziyech or Pulisic will be deployed at right wing-back if the German sticks to his usual back-three.
Leeds make three changes from the side which lost 2-0 to West Ham on Monday, with Liam Cooper (£4.3m) missing out entirely and replaced by the supposedly-injured Pascal Struijk (£4.0m), despite Marcelo Bielsa ruling him out in his pre-match press conference and adding: “He’s not needed urgently, I prefer that he has more time to recover completely.”
There is also a return for Jack Harrison (£5.4m) and Ezgjan Alioski (£4.3m), enabling Stuart Dallas (£5.0m) to move into midfield. Often playing out-of-position, the FPL defender has scored five goals this season.
The highly-owned Patrick Bamford (£6.8m) starts against one of his former clubs. He scored in December’s meeting at Stamford Bridge and has surprised many with his tally of 13 goals which, alongside eight assists, has gave him the game’s sixth highest points total.
Raphinha’s (£5.5m) superb value has also put him on the radars of FPL managers. Before blanking in his last two games, the former Rennes winger scored three times and assisted four in the previous seven.
Bielsa’s side have been a wonderful addition to the Premier League this season and are the only side to have both scored and conceded over 40 goals. However, having lost four of their last five matches, maybe the usual Bielsa trope of rock-and-roll football that tires towards the season’s climax is happening again.
Tuchel’s clean sheet machine will be expecting to claim another victim here, whichever formation he goes with.
Gameweek 28 Line-ups
LEEDS UNITED XI (4-1-4-1): Meslier; Ayling, Struijk, Llorente, Alioski; Phillips; Harrison, Dallas, Roberts, Raphinha; Bamford
CHELSEA XI (4-2-3-1): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Chilwell; Kante, Jorginho; Ziyech, Mount, Pulisic; Havertz
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