Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season has meant that coach Maurizio Sarri has not had many selection issues to deal with thus far in his debut campaign in England.
The Italian has seemingly settled on his preferred XI - with the only real questions surrounding that of the striker position (Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud?), how to give more game time to centre-backs Andreas Christensen and captain Gary Cahill and, now, who to start regularly on the left-hand side of his three-man midfield.
With Jorginho and N'Golo Kante assured starters for Chelsea, the final place in midfield up for grabs has become a three-way battle between on-loan Real Madrid star Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Sarri has certainly preferred Kovacic in recent weeks but, after Barkley scored and created a goal in Chelsea's 3-0 win away to Southampton and then enjoyed a positive international break with England, the 24-year-old has thrust himself back into the reckoning.
Loftus-Cheek impressed in his only start of the season against MOL Vidi in the Europa League but, with Barkley suffering a minor issue with England, the 22-year-old could now find himself on the bench when Chelsea host Manchester United on Saturday - despite not having made Sarri's matchday squad for the trip to St Mary's Stadium.
In the video above, Standard Sport's Vaishali Bhardwaj assesses the midfield conundrum that currently faces Chelsea manager Sarri.
