Chelsea manager Graham Potter suggested Kalidou Koulibaly may keep his spot in the team this weekend after a positive performance against Borussia Dortmund.
The 31-year-old returned to the starting line-up for Chelsea in midweek, his first appearance for the club in a month.
Many questioned whether a centre-back pairing of Koulibaly and Thiago Silva would be able to deal with the pace that Dortmund had up front, but these two actually did really well and limited the hosts to two shots on target.
While, obviously, Karim Adeyemi’s speed eventually proved decisive in the end, neither Koulibaly nor Silva was to blame for the goal.
Potter was full of praise for the Senegal international, whom he said may feature again against Southampton.
“Really happy with Kalidou,” the manager told Chelsea TV.
“[His] first game for a while, but I think he slotted in really well. He and Thiago had a really nice relationship [against Dortmund]– really good experiences there, which is what we were hoping for.
“He responded to the atmosphere and the occasion, which I think is an indication of his professionalism, how he’s trained, how he supports his teammates, and how he’s been.
“That’s looking positive for us, in terms of how he acted there. Now we’ll look to see how he’s at the weekend and carry on with his performance.”
This is interesting because Benoit Badiashile’s absence was likely the reason Koulibaly got to start in the first place.
Badiashile, who is in Chelsea’s Champions League squad, is available for the Southampton game and arguably deserves to reclaim his spot.
Bear in mind that Badishile helped Chelsea keep three clean-sheets in the previous four games.
Even if Potter decided to rest Silva, choosing either Trevoh Chalobah or Wesley Fofana, who prefer to play as right-sided centre-backs, would make more sense.
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