Graham Potter has outlined the midfield selection headache he is currently facing amid the uncertainty of Denis Zakaria's Chelsea future.
The Blues have a range of options in the middle of the park for the new head coach to choose from.
Since his arrival, Chelsea have won five of a possible six games and remain unbeaten and it looks as though he has found the winning formula.
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The centre of midfield since Potter took charge as involved different variations, but has been centred around Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher have also dropped back to play in slightly deeper roles as well.
There has however been no game-time for loan summer arrival Zakaria.
The Swiss midfielder completed a move from Juventus to the London side on Deadline Day, but is yet to feature for the Blues.
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A large factor that made him make the switch was head coach at the time Thomas Tuchel, but things quickly changed at Chelsea.
After a 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League the German was sacked.
With Potter at the helm, the 25-year-old will be hoping for an opportunity to come soon.
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Ahead of Wednesday's match against Brentford in the Premier League, the 47-year-old spoke to the media.
Talking about Zakaria's lack of involvement, he said: "Yes and you can imagine every player wants to play and when they don't they’re disappointed and they’re frustrated and it’s normal and you wouldn’t expect anything else.
"But I have to say he has conducted himself fantastically well in terms of with the group, supports his teammates really well, is always there but you can tell he wants to play so, yeah, have to understand that situation but he is fighting for the team, being really professional in training waiting for his opportunity and I’m sure it will come around soon."
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Potter continued: "Well, we just spoke about Mason Mount, and there’s Conor Gallagher and Ruben and Jorgi in that area of the pitch. There’s quite a lot of competition so it’s not like he is doing anything bad.
"It’s just I’ve got to start somewhere in terms of selection and then the other guys have got to be patient and try hard off the side and be ready when the team needs them and that’s exactly what he is doing."
With the start of the World Cup closing in, Zakaria will be hoping for minutes so he is prepared should he be picked.
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Chelsea have a total of eight fixtures to contend with in the next 25 days, so due to rotation, he may be handed some opportunities.
Topics: Chelsea, Graham Potter, Football
Sam Collins