Mendy and Azpilicueta return for Chelsea as Tuchel benches Havertz

Edouard Mendy (£5.2m) and César Azpilicueta (£5.9m) are back in the Chelsea side as they travel to West Ham in Blank Gameweek 33.

Both key defenders were absent from the starting XI for the 0-0 draw with Brighton on Tuesday, the latter ending his run of having played every Premier League minute under Thomas Tuchel.

Against the Hammers, Azpilicueta is joined in the team by Thiago Silva (£5.6m), Antonio Rüdiger (£4.7m) and Andreas Christensen (£4.7m), the latter claiming more clean sheets than any other Chelsea defender in the last six matches (five).

Their involvement today means a rare foray onto the right-hand side of Chelsea’s four-man midfield for Azpilicueta while, at left wing-back, Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) keeps Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) out of the team again.

Kai Havertz (£8.2m) is on the bench this afternoon for the second time in the last four matches.

Timo Werner (£9.2m) comes back in for his first start since Gameweek 30 with Mason Mount (£7.3m) and Christian Pulisic (£8.3m) either side of him, the latter Chelsea’s top-scorer in the last four matches (three goals).

West Ham remain without Aaron Cresswell (£5.7m) and Arthur Masuaku (£4.3m) while Craig Dawson‘s (£4.5m) suspension means starts for Fabian Balbuena (£4.1m) and Ryan Fredericks (£4.2m).

Michail Antonio‘s (£6.4m) continued absence means Jesse Lingard (£6.6m) and Jarrod Bowen (£6.0m) lead the West Ham attack with Pablo Fornals (£5.8m) at number 10.

Blank Gameweek 33 Line-ups

West Ham United XI (3-4-1-2): Fabianski; Ogbonna, Diop, Balbuena; Fredericks, Noble, Soucek, Coufal; Fornals; Lingard, Bowen.

Chelsea (3-4-3): E Mendy; Rudiger, T Silva, Christensen; Chilwell, Jorginho, Kanté, Azpilicueta; Mount, Werner, Pulisic.

Elsewhere in Blank Gameweek 33

Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) earned his Blank Gameweek 33 points quickly on Saturday lunchtime as he netted in the third minute of Liverpool’s meeting with Newcastle.

However, the encounter proved to be a rather frustrating one for those in possession of the Reds’ assets considering they should have won by a big scoreline.

Sadio Mané (£11.7m) and Diogo Jota (£7.1m) missed a string of chances with the latter coming off in the 58th minute and missing out on a clean sheet point in the process.

His team-mates came close to securing a shut-out against Newcastle but a late Joe Willock (£4.7m) goal wiped it off the board.

Callum Wilson (£6.5m) also put the ball in the net minutes before but had his effort ruled out for a handball.

Bonus points

• 3 – Martin Dubravka
• 2 – Andrew Robertson
• 1 – Alisson, Joe Willock

GET IN-GAME DATA AT LIVE FPL

Check your own rank and in-play FPL stats on LiveFPL.net every Gameweek