Paul Merson has snubbed two Chelsea stars in his England team to take on Iran in the first FIFA Qatar World Cup game against Iran.
The Blues have most of their stars representing their international teams during this current break- the last one scheduled before the World Cup gets underway in late November. Thiago Silva will be with the Brazil squad who are playing their games in Europe this week, whilst the same arrangements are in place for Christian Pulisic and the USA men's side.
Meanwhile, four Chelsea players have been called up by Gareth Southgate for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany. Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Reece James and Ben Chilwell will be looking to make a statement of their own, as all are keen to make the World Cup squad that will be travelling out to the Middle East.
Mount and Chilwell, in particular, are the players most under pressure as the former has started the new season with Chelsea in an underwhelming fashion, whilst the £50million full-back is still finding his way back to full fitness after recovering from an ACL rupture suffered in the early parts of 2021/22 as he is also challenged by summer signing Marc Cucurella for a regular place in Graham potter's side.
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Both players will be coming up against Jorginho's Italy and Kai Havertz's Germany in this upcoming break. Southgate's men take on Italy on Friday evening whilst the Monday following represents the challenge of Germany and Hasni Flick's side.
Ahead of these two games and more specifically the first World Cup fixture against Iran, former Arsenal midfielder and well-known pundit Merson has left two Chelsea players out of his favoured line-up for the first Group B round of fixtures and one of the players with a point to prove misses out whilst the other is a controversial selection.
Merson has gone with a traditional 4-3-3: Jordan Pickford; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kieran Trippier; Declan Rice, Phil Foden, Mason Mount; Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane.
No James and Chilwell are two interesting selections. Here is some of the reaction to this concept line-up.
@AshGraham10 controversially put: 'Mount is one of the most overrated English players in history. Shouldn’t be anywhere near the squad, let alone in the first XI.'
@tom_murray456 tweeted: 'how can anyone possibly select trent the way he’s been playing this season.'
@Harrison81A suggested: 'Mount our for Bellingham, Bellingham will start to replace Phillips if he doesn’t recover from shoulder surgery. TAA is the worst defender going but superb going forward, doesn’t deserve to start.'
@P_M_Roma concluded: 'No Bellingham, no Reece James, no Tomori....sorry Paul, thats not ok.'
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