One of the legendary moments of our last title-winning campaign (now ten years ago, sadly) was the transformation of Victor Moses from a winger to a wing-back, to better fit into Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 system. Could something similar happen to one of the many young wingers in the squad this season?
Many have suggested that Geovany Quenda might be a candidate for such an evolution, and that has played out in the voting for today’s preferred starting lineup.
With an overwhelming majority selecting a back-three
setup — which seems to be Xabi Alonso’s strong preference as well — we are shy one wing-back among the ten non-goalkeepers garnering over 50 per cent of the vote. So one of Quenda, Jamie Gittens, and Estêvão would have to slot in at wing-back. (Gittens got the fewest votes of those three, so the other choice is for him to drop out and be replaced by Malo Gusto, who got 44 per cent.)
One other note on this lineup: the voting was done with the assumption that Wesley Fofana would be available. That doesn’t seem to be the case after all (he’s serving his suspension in this competition as well); next man up at center back would be Tosin with 37 per cent.
3-4-3 (78%)
Penders (96%) | Hato (56%), Fofana(82%), Acheampong (64%) | Chavarría (86%), Barco (76%), Enzo (58%), Quenda (68%) | Gittens (62%), Welbeck (88%), Estêvão (85%)
Other notable voting shares include Pedro Neto (40%), Dário Essugo (43%), Reggie Watson (15%), and Mykhailo Mudryk (9%).
