Frank Lampard could cap a fine debut season in charge of Chelsea by leading to the club to FA Cup final glory against Arsenal on Saturday.
Sunday’s 2-0 win against Wolves secured a fourth-place finish in the Premier League for the Blues guaranteeing their place in next season’s Champions League.
That would have been Lampard’s top priority upon his return last summer but having won four FA Cups as a player, he will be keen to secure his first piece of silverware as a manager.
Lampard demonstrated his ruthless side at the weekend by dropping the world’s most expensive goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for veteran Willy Caballero, who kept a clean sheet.
Deciding whether to restore Kepa to his starting line-up or keep the faith with Caballero is likely to be Lampard’s key consideration when deciding his team this weekend.
Defence
Having splurged £72m to sign Kepa from Athletic Club two years ago, Chelsea have a problem on their hands with the Spanish international showing an alarming propensity to concede a high volume of shots. Kepa has conceded 47 Premier League goals this season, from only 101 shots faced.
Another issue for Chelsea is that Kepa’s backup isn’t the safest pair of hands either. Long gone are the days when they could call upon Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini. Caballero will turn 39 in September and hasn’t always exuded confidence when drafted into the side. Nevertheless, the Argentine has played in all but one of Chelsea’s FA Cup games this season and will expect to retain his place.
Lampard matched up Wolves by selecting a back three in Chelsea’s last game and may well do against Arsenal, who beat Manchester City playing a 3-4-3 in the semi-final. Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma and Antonio Rudiger may be retained after keeping a clean sheet last time out with Reece James and Marcos Alonso patrolling the flanks as wing-backs.
Midfield
N’Golo Kante hasn’t featured for Chelsea since the 3-0 win over Watford at the start of July but has been back in training and is in contention to feature in the final. Injuries have prevented the Frenchman from building up any sort of rhythm this term but he remains an integral player to Chelsea when fit.
Mateo Kovacic had an ice pack strapped to his leg after Chelsea’s win over Wolves but is expected to feature in the final regardless. Jorginho started alongside Kovacic against Wolves but speculation over his future persists and he may make way for Kante if he is fit to start.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley are other midfield options Lampard could turn to and both could be useful impact subs to turn to.
Attack
Willian was absent for Chelsea’s final game of the season and has subsequently been linked with a move to Arsenal at the end of his contract. The Brazilian has played well since the restart, scoring four goals and registering two assists in eight matches but Lampard has other form options in attack.
Mason Mount was the pick of Chelsea’s players last weekend from an advanced wide role, scoring a sublime free-kick before laying on an inch-perfect assist for Olivier Giroud. On the opposite flank, Christian Pulisic had one of his quieter games but he has been arguably Chelsea’s best player over the past two months.
In attack, Giroud has held off competition from Tammy Abraham to become Lampard’s go-to man, marking an impressive transformation in fortunes after he looked set to leave in January. The World Cup winner has scored six goals in his last seven games and will relish coming up against former employers.
Chelsea predicted XI: Caballero; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rudiger; James, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Pulisic, Giroud, Mount.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2XeXydA
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