The people’s choice against Nottingham Forest: Tosin or Hato or Fofana, or Acheampong

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 26: Tosin Adarabioyo of Chelsea during the Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Leeds United on April 26, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Never change a winning lineup: it’s a classic old adage in football. We haven’t had much chance to put that into practice of late, but we did win an important game last weekend, against Leeds United in the FA Cup semifinal, so now we have something to possibly not change.

And sure enough, for the WAGNH Community, that lineup would do just fine for today’s bank holiday clash against Nottingham Forest … with one, maybe two exceptions.

The one obvious change is Cole Palmer starting instead of Alejandro Garnacho (17%). Palmer was on the bench due to injury, but he did come on as a substitute in the second half, so he should be fit to start now. Meanwhile, Garnacho once again failed to impress.

The second change is less obvious, but it involves the center back position, where we’ve got a four-man race for the spot next to Trevoh Chalobah. In a bit of a surprise, Tosin Adarabioyo (32%) got the start against Leeds, but he doesn’t quite have the votes to do so again. Instead, it’s Jorrel Hato (34%) who also beats out Wesley Fofana (29%) and Josh Acheampong (24%). And Hato isn’t even a center back really…

4-2-3-1 (75%)
Sánchez (97%) | Cucurella (93%), Hato (34%), Chalobah (91%), Gusto (81%) | Lavia (48%), Caicedo (96%) | Neto (86%), Enzo (94%), Palmer (93%) | João Pedro (96%)

Andrey Santos (35%) was also in the conversation; all the rest weren’t. Mamadou Sarr (12%) was the only other player to score in the double-digits.