Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Spurs: Let’s try it without Levi Colwill

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 18: Amad Diallo of Manchester United, Moises Caicedo of Chelsea and Jorrel Hato of Chelsea battle for the ball as Trevoh Chalobah of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on April 18, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images) | Getty Images Levi Colwill has made a tangible difference in our defending his return from ACL surgery, but he’s only been back for a three games, so asking him to start two games in four days is surely far too much at this stage. So we’re likely to rotate at the back tonight against Spurs, with the WAGNH Community putting our faith in Trevoh Chalobah and Jorrel Hato.

The former has been the one consistent presence in our backline all season, while the latter has had some pretty good performances at center back even though, nominally, he’s a left back. Colwill (48%) and Fofana (48%) started in the FA Cup Final, but the community don’t have much faith in the latter without the former. And it looks like a back-four from the voters in this one, though the margin over a back-three has been reduced to just a couple percentage points, with 42% preferring what may be our future setup under Xabi Alonso next season.

The rest of the lineup is as you’d expect. 4-2-3-1 (50%) Sánchez (94%) | Cucurella (85%), Hato (57%), Chalobah (63%), James (72%) | Santos (48%), Caicedo (94%) | Neto (74%), Enzo (88%), Palmer (90%) | João Pedro (91%) Malo Gusto (39%) was the only other player to come close to starting. Josh Acheampong (28%) continues to linger in the background, while everyone else — Alejandro Garnacho (18%), Mamadou Sarr (12%), Liam Delap (12%), all others below 10% — are well off the pace.