After Thiago Silva’s poor performance in last weekend’s 4-2 loss to Wolves and his wife Belle’s subsequent social media post calling for change at Chelsea, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino dropped Silva for the 3-1 FA Cup victory over Aston Villa.
Asked whether Silva will return to the starting XI for the game against Crystal Palace on Monday, Pochettino said: “All the players are in the same position as him.
“We always assess after every single game the performance of the player and then we take the decision. He is not different from the others.
“I always make my decisions trying to provide good balance to the team. I don’t look at the passport or the age of the player. I think it’s always about quality and how we can get the best balance for the team.
“Benoit [Badiashile] wasn’t available for a long time because he was injured. Disasi was injured, [Trevoh] Chalobah was injured, [Wesley] Fofana was injured. We always try to find the formation and players that can perform and win games.”