Popular Pukki starts as Kanté misses out for Chelsea

Gameweek 2 hat-trick hero Teemu Pukki (£6.8m) embarks on his first Premier League match as a highly-owned Fantasy asset this afternoon.

He was the recipient of a huge influx of transfers ahead of Chelsea’s visit to Carrow Road, becoming the most transferred in player of 2019/20 with over 1.2 million managers signing him.

Not surprisingly, Daniel Farke has made no changes to the side that thrashed Newcastle 3-1 last weekend.

That means Todd Cantwell (£4.6m), who also impressed against the Magpies, starts again for Norwich.

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard has made two changes to the Chelsea XI with Tammy Abraham (£7.0m) and Mateo Kovacic (£5.5m) starting for the Blues ahead of Olivier Giroud (£7.0m) and N’Golo Kanté (£5.0m). 

The Blues have started the 2019/20 campaign tentatively, following up a 4-0 mauling a Manchester United with a 1-1 draw against Leicester City in Gameweek 2. 

The goalscorer from Lampard’s draw against the Foxes, Mason Mount (£6.1m), retains his place in the starting XI and will look to build on his promising attacking form against the Canaries at Carrow Road. 

Question marks continue to linger over the fitness of Kanté, and therefore Lampard’s decision to deploy Kovacic in the central midfield role is far from surprising, and potentially good for Pukki owners.

The Chelsea boss has also opted to re-call Abraham at the expense of Giroud, with the 2018/19 Aston Villa loanee yet to register a league goal for the Blues.

The 21-year-old will be hoping he can repay the faith of his manager with an impactful attacking contribution against Norwich in the lunch-time kick-off. 

Norwich XI: Krul; Lewis, Godfrey, Hanley, Aarons; Trybull, Leitner; Cantwell, Stiepermann, Buendía; Pukki.

Chelsea XI: Kepa; Emerson, Zouma, Christensen, Azpilicueta; Kovacic, Jorginho; Pulisic, Mount, Pedro; Abraham.