Pizy

Certainly don't think Hazard will start. Be very curious who he goes with as the CB pairing. Unfortunately we can be sure that Alonso will start. Even though they both arrived at the same time, I do actually think Kante will start here since he's a fucking machine. Biggest two question marks are whether he goes with RLC or Bakley as the third midfielder and which CB partnership he likes. Hazard & Kova will hopefully be ready for Arse next weekend.

Seems strange that all the talk of outs for us have gone silent. Are we really going to keep all of Baka, DD, and RLC? What's going on with Batshuayi, Tammy, and Zouma?

The big nosed ostrich wishes he was as handsome as Kepa! 😂

Any interest we had in Fekir probably ended when Kovacic became possible since they'd likely play the same position in Sarri's team.

Ideal world - Kovacic kills it in his year here while a new flavor of the month CM emerges for Real Madrid to go after. We can then hopefully convince them to sell him to us permanently while funding the move for whichever Galactico they're after.

I imagine this was a huge comfort to him. Some players come to the PL and are basically alone. Kepa gets to come in and be surrounded by loads of players he'll know and be able to communicate with. Should also help that Caballero is a Spanish speaker and plays his position.

I simply cannot imagine us spunking down mega money for Fekir when we've just made a big deal about Willian staying and being happy. Where would he even play with both Willian and Pedro there? Unless Willian goes to United this doesn't seem realistic.

He's a young keeper who has made mistakes. Not a big deal. I prefer to focus on the good highlights I've watched on YouTube where his reflexes look insane. Like, De Gea-like insane. Give him time and stay behind him even if he struggles initially.

Later, Courtwat. Try not to let Messi in between those legs of yours!

If you would've told me at the beggining of the summer that we'd be able to shift Drinkwater & Bakayoko and bring in Jorginho & Kovacic I'd have laughed and said impossible. Let us hope our board can work their magic some more here!

Seems now it's almost certain that he'll go on loan which is very puzzling considering we'd be left with only Morata and Giroud when we could play 60 games this season. If Morata gets injured early we'd have to ride a slow 32 year old Giroud as our main striker? In a Sarri system? I dread having to see us use Hazard or Pedro as the striker again.

Would be weird for a player like Fekir to reject us due to no CL. Chelsea is still a massive step up from Lyon.

Looks as though Real Madrid are absolutely adamant that no buy out clause is included. That's really disappointing. Would be pretty devastating if he settles in here and becomes an extremely important player but has to return to Real Madrid while we start from scratch trying to find a replacement.

From lining up with Kante & Bakayoko or Kante + Fabregas last season in Conte's defensively minded setup to Jorginho, Kante, and Kovacic in Sarri's high energy attacking setup. That is a colossal upgrade. Serious case to be made that we have the best midfield 3 in the league. Assuming they gel and adapt well, that is.

Our midfield would be completely sorted for years and years if we managed a buy option. All 3 of Jorginho, Kante, and Kovacic are at the perfect age. All 3 of Cesc, DD, and Bakayoko will likely be moved on next summer which will mean more minutes for Barkley and RLC assuming he isn't sold by then. I agree with others saying it would be very strange from our point of view to take someone on loan without the buy option. Doesn't seem like something we'd sanction at all.

We're effectively only paying around £35m for Kepa with Courtois going for £35m.

I think if given a decent run of games he'll be very nice. Technically good and rapid. Please, Sarri!

Think Rüdiger & Christensen should remain our first choice CB pairing, I think Emerson needs to be our starting LB, and I think we have a pretty significant problem up top. All things we pretty much already knew. Alonso will certainly struggle and may even cost us points against anyone decent. Looks out of his depth and really struggling in this new formation. His one strength the past 2 seasons was his ability to get forward. Don't think I've really seen him do that once this preseason in 4 matches. So what use is he? Last thing we need with a new, inexperience keeper coming in is for him to be totally exposed from one side. Lastly, Barkley was good in the first two games but has sort of retreated into his shell a bit since. He'll be a good option to have in the squad but Kovacic or someone else of higher quality is needed there.

Eden looking very rusty here. Alonso looking like a clumsy baby elephant.

At least good to get Willian minutes. He'll likely be the only starter against Huddesfield of this lot. As for Bakayoko, you can tell he's still completely terrified of making a catastrophic mistake. Just like he was last season. Only plays the safest passes and sort of hides. That I could deal with because at least he's not hurting us. But then when he's defending his positioning was very poor that half. Midfield was open where he was supposed to be. Honestly, I wish we'd loan/sell Baka and DD and keep RLC as an option along with Barkley and Kovacic for that attacking midfield role.

Also don't think DD is a good fit for Sarriball. Too slow on the ball. Takes too long to decide what to do with it.

Man, didn't think it was possible for a player to be slower to turn than Cesc was but Drinkwater may be. Looks like a 50 year old out here! 😂

Yep. Looks excellent here so far.

Not expecting much here in terms of goals from that XI we have out there. Yikes...

Oblak plays in a team that is paradise for a keeper. No chance would he want to leave. I'm sure we went sniffing around but were told no chance he'd want to move.