Mendy benched as Chelsea and Arsenal make a combined 12 changes

It’s 12 matches down, three to go as Triple Gameweek 35 continues with Chelsea v Arsenal on Wednesday evening.

Kick-off at Stamford Bridge is at 20:15 BST.

Mikel Arteta and Thomas Tuchel have been prone to a spot of rotation in the spring, with both of their sides juggling domestic duties with involvement on the continent.

Changes always looked likely for this second Gameweek 35 fixture for the pair and there have indeed been a dozen alterations to the two starting XIs this evening.

Only four of Thomas Tuchel’s side have survived the cut from the 2-1 win over Manchester City.

Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.9m), Reece James (£5.1m), Billy Gilmour (£4.3m) and Christian Pulisic (£8.3m) are the lucky quartet.

That means that Edouard Mendy (£5.2m) drops to the bench, with Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.7m) making his third Premier League start in the Tuchel era.

Thiago Silva (£5.6m), Kurt Zouma (£5.3m), Ben Chilwell (£5.9m), Jorginho (£4.7m), Mason Mount (£7.3m) and Kai Havertz (£8.3m) are also recalled, with Antonio Rudiger (£4.7m), Andreas Christensen (£4.7m), N’Golo Kante (£4.9m), Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech (£7.9m) making way.

Rudiger, Kante and Christensen are all absent from the match day squad, with the latter having previously been confirmed as being injured.

Arteta has made a mere five changes to the team that beat West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.3m), Kieran Tierney (£5.2m), Martin Odegaard (£5.7m), Thomas Partey (£4.9m) and Pablo Marí (£4.4m) are all promoted to the starting XI.

Budget FPL midfielder Emile Smith Rowe (£4.2m) has recovered from a hamstring strain to start.

Calum Chambers (£4.5m), Willian (£7.5m), Nicolas Pepe (£7.6m), Dani Ceballos (£4.7m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£4.9m) all drop to the bench.

Rudiger and Mendy were by some distance the most-popular players within the top 10k as of the Gameweek 35 deadline, with ‘effective ownerships’ (EO – something that takes into account captaincies and benchings) of 30.73% and 23.36% respectively.

Rob Holding (£4.3m), whose EO of 17.03% in the top 10k is more than the rest of Arsenal’s squad combined, is therefore the most-owned player within this leading group of Fantasy bosses in tonight’s game.

LINE-UPS

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Zouma, James, Gilmour, Jorginho, Chilwell, Mount, Pulisic, Havertz.

Subs: Alonso, Werner, Mendy, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Ziyech, Emerson Palmieri, Anjorin, Livramento.

Arsenal:Leno, Holding, Gabriel, Pablo Mari, Tierney, Thomas, Elneny, Saka, Odegaard, Smith-Rowe, Aubameyang.

Subs: Bellerin, Ceballos, Lacazette, Willian, Cedric, Pepe, Chambers, Ryan, Martinelli.

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