England face Ukraine on Saturday night in a 5pm kick off. The game will be England’s 5th match of the Euro qualifiers, and there is a big Chelsea focus to hone in on.
Mykhailo Mudryk is a confidence player and away from Chelsea, without that pressure and heavy focus on him, this is the ideal chance for him to shine and put in a good performance. Then each time he does that, it should help with his overall development and performances. England will be expected to win this game, so the pressure is totally off for Ukraine and for Mudryk. It’s an ideal time to step up, even if it is off the bench.
In terms of our Chelsea focus for England, I highly doubt that any of Levi Colwill or Conor Gallagher will start the game, but Ben Chilwell absolutely could.
And that is where my England Chelsea focus is. Chilly has had a tough four games for Chelsea this season and he has not performed great. He’s been asked to play as a left winger and he has been speaking about that this week.
“I am still learning as I am going,” Chilwell said on his new position. “I have been playing left back and then left wing back and now I am, again, higher up the pitch. I expect the pressure on me to contribute to goals.
“That’s something I am going to work on at Chelsea over the next few games to add that goal threat. [I need to] shoot, instead of passing the ball.”
We all know that Chilly can get goals, but for me if you want the very best out of Ben Chilwell, then you need to play him as a left full back and allow him freedom to get up and down.
For England he will play his natural position and as I said, I expect him to start the game. This could be ideal for him in this moment because a lot like Mudryk, the Chelsea pressure will be off and he can just play his game. It will be a great chance for him to put in a good performance or two this international break and come back with that under his belt.
Whether people like it or no, this guy is our vice-captain so we NEED him to get on form this season and bring it back to Chelsea.
And finally, I’d LOVE to see Colwill get the nod in either game, but unfortunately Gareth Southgate is still the England manager. Harry Maguire will 100% get the nod, I have no doubts!
But Colwill should get his senior debut at some point in this next week or so, even as a sub. And this will be fully deserved for him. He deserves to start on current form for me.
Conor Gallagher is maintaining his place and again, that is also deserved. He’s been a key player under Mauricio Pochettino this season, whether you like that or not!
Many other Chelsea players will be in action this next week or so as well and we will hone in on some other individual performances over that course of time.