Chelsea's first week back after the Club World Cup has been a success so far.
A dramatic 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday was followed by a routine 2-0 first-leg victory against Lille in the Champions League last-16 on Tuesday.
Now Thomas Tuchel and his players will turn their attention to Wembley this weekend.
The Blues face Liverpool in the final of the League Cup, with Tuchel having been given food for thought over the last few days with regards to picking a team for that encounter.
Should Chelsea start Romelu Lukaku against Liverpool on Sunday? Let us know in the comments section below!
Tuchel highlights Havertz advantage over Lukaku
Tuchel was full of praise for Kai Havertz after his goalscoring performance against Lille on Tuesday and highlighted an area where he has advantage over Lukaku.
The latter had a much-publicised seven touches against Palace on Saturday and has struggled to find his best goalscoring form since making a club-record move back to Chelsea from Inter Milan in the summer.
Speaking after the Lille win, Tuchel hinted he was favouring Havertz to lead the line over Lukaku against Liverpool, that despite the German typically playing as an attacking midfielder.
"I am very pleased for Kai," he said. "He really steps up. The effort is immense, the work rate is immense, the areas of the pitch he covers for us.
"He was very good, very decisive. He was never shy of defending. We had an aggressive high line today with our offensive players. It was a formation to have intensity and a high work rate consistently throughout the whole match and they did very well.
"Romelu struggled in the last games to deliver that."
Read the story in full HERE.
Cole and Ferdinand assess Lukaku "problem"
Speaking on BT Sport after the Chelsea win, former England internationals Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand gave their assessment of the striker situation at Chelsea.
Former Manchester United defender Ferdinand said it's a "big problem" for the Blues to be moving Havertz from his best position to play as a centre-forward.
"It’s a huge problem," replied Cole, who is an ex-Blues winger. "Think about his form at the end of last season when he was able to drop off and runners go and behind him, his best position is a No.9, but that’s bad for Lukaku.
"He reminds me of a [Roberto] Firmino type player, someone that knits it all together, he would have been a nightmare to mark tonight."
Read the story in full HERE.
Havertz feels "good" as Chelsea striker
Although Havertz has been most effective throughout his career as an attacking midfielder, Chelsea have arguably played their best football under Tuchel with the German as the centre-forward.
Havertz is adept at running in behind, linking play and pressing the opposition, although the 22-year-old lacks the goalscoring instinct of some of the best strikers in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, the former Bayer Leverkusen man has said he enjoys being at the sharp end of the team.
"It is good for me (playing advanced forward)," he said. "We have a lot of good strikers so it is also good to have a change and not make it easy for the opposition. Today it worked good and I enjoy every forward position."
Read the story in full HERE.
