Chelsea have left themselves with a chance to finish inside the top six in the Premier League as they prepare for their final two matches of the season.
The Blues are currently seventh in the division and only behind Newcastle United in sixth on goal difference, ahead of clashes with Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth this week.
Mauricio Pochettino's side are fighting to ensure that they nail down a place in the Europa League for the 2024/25 campaign, rather than the Europa Conference League.
The London giants did not compete in a European competition this season and they now look set to return to Europe under the Argentine head coach next term.
However, the full focus must be on these next two matches and what they can do to make sure that they come away with all six points, to give themselves the best chance of finishing ahead of the Magpies.
One change the former Tottenham Hotspur boss could make to his starting XI for the upcoming clash with Brighton could come in the right-back position.
Why Trevoh Chalobah should be dropped
Trevoh Chalobah could be ruthlessly binned from the lineup for the Blues after a difficult afternoon up against former Chelsea man Callum Hudson-Odoi against Nottingham Forest.
With Malo Gusto and Reece James now available, having both come off the bench against the Tricky Trees, Pochettino should drop the academy graduate to the bench, unless he decides to move him into a central defensive position.
90min reporter Tom Gott awarded the English defender a player rating of 5/10 against Forest, writing that he looked 'hesitant' throughout the game due to the threat of Hudson-Odoi.
Noni Madueke, who won three of his 13 duels in the game, did not do much to help his right-back out as Chalobah found himself isolated against the former England international far too often.
Chalobah won one ground duel and completed one tackle in the match and Hudson-Odoi, the player he was marking for most of the game, created four chances, including one 'big chance, hit the woodwork, and scored a fantastic goal.
His defensive work, however, is not the reason why Pochettino should look to take him out of the right-back position for these last two matches. It is, instead, his lack of quality in possession that should tempt the manager to shuffle the pack on Wednesday night.
Appearances
11
Starts
8
Assists
0
xA
0.34
Big chances created
0
Key passes per game
0.3
As you can see in the table above, Chalobah has offered very little as a creative force down the flank for Chelsea, with less than one chance created every other game on average.
These statistics show that, as you would expect from a player who typically plays as a centre-back, the 24-year-old dud is not likely to bomb forward to split open opposition defences with killer passes or impressive crosses into the box for the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku.
The player Pochettino should replace Trevoh Chalobah with
Pochettino can brutally bin Chalobah from the starting XI at right-back by unleashing 20-year-old sensation Malo Gusto from the start on Wednesday.
The French whiz recently missed four matches through injury and has come off the bench in the last two matches since making a return from that knock.
He should now be unleashed in the lineup against Brighton as the talented gem has the attacking quality to provide a far greater outlet down the right flank than his English teammate.
In the Premier League this season, Gusto has racked up five assists, 2.75 xA, seven 'big chances' created, and 1.2 key passes per game on average, which means that the £45k-per-week ace averages four times as many key passes per match than Chalobah.
Assists (0.27)
Top 6%
Expected Assisted Goals (0.21)
Top 10%
Shot-creating actions (2.66)
Top 18%
Progressive passes (4.57)
Top 25%
Progressive carries (4.13)
Top 3%
As you can see in the table above, the young star ranks well above average among his positional peers in a host of key attacking metrics in the Premier League this season.
Gusto, who was lauded as "outstanding" by journalist Ben Jacobs earlier this year, has proven that he has the quality to create high-quality chances consistently in the English top-flight, which makes him a dangerous weapon for Pochettino to have in his arsenal.
This is why the former Southampton manager must unleash the 20-year-old wizard from the start against Brighton as he has the potential to offer significantly more than Chalobah in attack, which could help them to secure all three points against Roberto De Zerbi's side.
Gusto has also proven himself to be solid enough from a defensive perspective with a duel success rate of 55% and a ground duel success rate of 59%, which shows that opposition forwards do not find it easy to get the better of him in physical contests.
The alternatives to Malo Gusto
James, who came off the bench against Forest, is also available as a potential option for the manager to call upon at right-back on Wednesday night.
However, he had been out for far longer than the four games Gusto missed and it may not be worth the risk of throwing him back in straight away when there are only two league matches left.
The England international has missed a staggering 38 games through injury this season and has not started in any competition since the 4-1 loss to Newcastle in November 2023.
With Gusto available, there is no need to risk aggravating an injury by bringing him back before he is 100% ready to start and it could make sense to give him the summer and pre-season to be fully prepared to hit the ground running next season.
Instead, James could be used as a super substitute off the bench, which is the role he played to great effect against Forest on Saturday evening.
The full-back came on with 11 minutes to go and assisted the winning goal from Jackson with a fantastic whipped cross to find the striker at the back post, and he may look to have a similar impact this week.
