Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from an insipid defeat against London rivals Arsenal when they host high-flying Aston Villa on Monday.
Frank Lampard attacked his side’s mentality in the 3-1 loss at the Emirates, accusing his players of a “lazy” performance in which they only gave “60 or 70 per cent” effort.
Timo Werner and Mateo Kovacic were hauled off at half-time with the Blues 2-0 down and, despite a better second-half performance, they could not secure a comeback.
So how will Lampard switch up his team for the visit of a team one place above them in the table?
Hudson-Odoi to start?
As much as Lampard would probably like to rest some key players he knows he will need to choose a strong starting XI after a poor defeat and with tricky opponents coming to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues face no fresh injury concerns but will be without Hakim Ziyech who is not expected to return from his hamstring injury until the new year.
His absence plus the patchy form of fellow new signings Werner and Kai Havertz means Callum Hudson-Odoi could be rewarded with a start on the wing following his strong performance against Arsenal from the bench.
The Englishman was one of the few bright sparks at the Emirates, coming on at half-time and adding an energy that was sorely missing in the opening 45 minutes as well as setting up Tammy Abraham’s goal late on.
Abraham is Chelsea’s top scorer in the league this season and looks set for a start against a side for whom he scored 26 goals in 40 appearances on loan in the Championship.
The third forward spot then looks most likely to go to Christian Pulisic with Lampard’s post-match comments on Werner, who has now gone 10 games without a goal and looked well under par against Arsenal, suggesting the German could be set for a rest.
“The goals not going in is certainly something an attacking player gets judged on and I could have made more subs,” Lampard said, “but I felt I had to make subs in those two areas to inject energy.
“Timo today wasn’t giving us enough with or without the ball and some of it we have to give him time because it is a different league but also we have to get there quickly, so we’ll see about his tiredness. I will have a conversation with him but it was a decision I just felt I had to make. I had to make changes to try to change the cause of the match.”
One positive for the Blues was the return to full fitness of full-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James, while the pairing of Kurt Zouma and Thiago Silva at centre-back looks more of less unbreakable in front of No 1 Edouard Mendy.
Midfield conundrum
While defence appears settled, midfield is perhaps becoming a bit of headache for Lampard.
Kovacic and Jorginho may not exactly be in Lampard’s good books after the Arsenal result, with the latter missing a late penalty, but his two favourite options in the middle of the park do look in need of a rest at some point.
N’Golo Kante has started every Premier League game this season while Mason Mount has played the full 90 minutes in each of the last nine.
However, given the need for a win, Lampard may choose to pair those two in the middle of the park with Havertz, who has started the last two games on the bench, playing in front of them.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/38HdaeL
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