Erik ten Hag will hope the whole stadium can get behind his team, but after a tense week, the players need to given them something to shout about, and reason to believe.

He goes up against Mauricio Pochettino, the man he beat to the Manchester United job. No word on whether the Chelsea manager feels devastated or relieved, considering the intense scrutiny Erik ten Hag is under.

Who will Erik ten Hag select

There are huge decisions ahead for the manager, but first, the injury latest. There are no developments on the returns of Jonny Evans, Mason Mount, or Christian Eriksen, who won’t be available, the club have confirmed.

So that quite unhelpfully means Ten Hag must work with the same set of players who took on Newcastle at the weekend. But we see some changes ahead.

In goal, it’s fairly straightforward, Andre Onana will retain his place. And then we see Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire continuing in central defence, where they were praised as the team’s only two good players against Newcastle.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka should stay at right-back and try and redeem himself after his error against Newcastle. He has a strong record against opposing winger Raheem Sterling.

On the left, Sergio Reguilon could come in, after a promising substitute performance against Newcastle.

We do see more changes in midfield – but Kobbie Mainoo will retain his place, for a third league start and first at home. He will be able to handle it.

Sofyan Amrabat will slot in alongside him, replacing Scott McTominay, to try and provide more possession and positional discipline.

Captain Bruno Fernandes will retain his place too, looking to lead by example on a big night for the club.

In attack, there will be two changes, we predict. The only one of the front three to start will be overhead kick magician Alejandro Garnacho.

Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford will be dropped. They deserve to be. Instead it will be Rasmus Hojlund leading the line, and Antony on the right wing, who has shown a little improvement over the past couple of games.

Ten Hag needs players who will fight for him. Antony and Rasmus Hojlund will leave everything out there. Will that be good enough? Right now its better to have fight, than none at all, and go from there.

• In: Reguilon, Amrabat, Hojlund, Antony
• Out: Dalot, McTominay, Rashford, Martial