{"id":188421,"date":"2025-06-16T07:34:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T07:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/188421\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T07:34:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T07:34:14","slug":"chelsea-predicted-xi-v-lafc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/188421\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea predicted XI v LAFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Liam<\/p>\n

Credit: Imago, Hasan Karim – Breaking Media<\/p>\n

\"Alex <\/p>\n

Mon 16 June 2025 6:30, UK <\/p>\n

Chelsea take on Los Angeles FC in their opening game of the revamped Club World Cup on Monday (16 June) evening.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enzo Maresca has a number of selection decisions to make ahead of the clash with the MLS side, and could hand out some club debuts.<\/p>\n

As well as LAFC, the Blues are in a group with Brazilian side Flamengo and Tunisian outfit ES Tunis, and need a top-two finish to advance to the knockout stages.<\/p>\n

The West London side qualified for the competition due to their Champions League success all the way back in 2021, when Kai Havertz\u2019s goal fired them to a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the final.<\/p>\n

\"Havertz\"Havertz scored the winner for Chelsea back in 2021Chelsea debuts for Penders and Delap<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Maresca\u2019s biggest issues going into the first game is who to play in goal, after Chelsea missed out on signing Mike Maignan<\/a> from AC Milan.<\/p>\n

Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen have failed to impress the former Leicester manager, and after Djordje Petrovic was left out of the squad, Mike Penders may be given the chance to stake his claim.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n

Penders signed for the Blues<\/a> last summer from Genk, but remained at the Belgian side for the 2024\/25 campaign and has only just joined up with Maresca\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

In defence, Reece James could be rested, which would see Malo Gusto at right-back alongside Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill, and Marc Cucurella. <\/p>\n

Maresca is expected to go strong in midfield, utilising Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, with Cole Palmer playing in the number 10 role.<\/p>\n

On the left wing, Chelsea can no longer call on Jadon Sancho<\/a>, after he was sent back to Manchester United following the conclusion of his loan spell, so Pedro Neto will likely take his place.<\/p>\n

Over on the right-hand side, there have been rumours that Noni Madueke could be leaving Stamford Bridge<\/a> this summer, but the 23-year-old is still expected to start.<\/p>\n

Up front, Chelsea\u2019s new star signing Liam Delap<\/a> could be handed his debut, after a \u00a330million move from Ipswich.<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaChelsea predicted lineup v LAFCJackson faces Chelsea exit<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Delap is preferred to Nicolas Jackson for the opening game of the Club World Cup, it could provide Chelsea fans with an idea of what is to come next season.<\/p>\n

Many believe that the former Ipswich striker will be Maresca\u2019s starting centre forward for the upcoming Premier League campaign.<\/p>\n

However, that could mean that Jackson is set for a Chelsea exit<\/a> this summer, in order to ensure that he gets the gametime he desires.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old scored 10 Premier League goals in 30 appearances last season, but often failed to find the back of the net in decisive games.<\/p>\n

Maresca became increasingly frustrated with Jackson<\/a>, due to his inability to reach his potential and poor discipline, and could look to cash in on him.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Imago, Hasan Karim – Breaking Media Mon 16 June 2025 6:30, UK Chelsea take on Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[885,2969,77335,1184,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-188421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-chelsea","9":"tag-liam-delap","10":"tag-mike-penders","11":"tag-nicolas-jackson","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114691891152499533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}