Chelsea picked up their first loss in the Premier League after a really long time as they went down 2-1 to Manchester City and next up they travel to Spain in order to take on Valencia in the Champions League.
The Blues are in Group H of the UCL and this is right now the most interesting group since the top three sides are all locked on seven points.
Chelsea showed great determination as they drew their previous match 4-4 vs Ajax keeping the group, wide open and also their chances of progressing very much alive.
A win vs Valencia will surely calm a lot of nerves since the London outfit can be able to break out and put one step into the knockout stages of the tournament. But playing at home Valencia are a force to reckon with and since Lampard cannot afford to make too many changes it will be interesting to see whether fatigue plays any part in Chelsea’s performance on Wednesday.
Chelsea news vs Valencia:
The Blues go into this match with a couple of injury concerns and almost all of them are ruled out from this Valencia match. Ross Barkley, Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have all been sidelined with injuries and will not be available for selection when the London outfit head to Spain.
Emerson had a poor outing vs Man City and the left-back is expected to be dropped to the bench as Reece James comes into the first XI in midweek.
The entry of James at right-back means captain Cesar Azpilicueta will move to the left-hand side while Tomori and Kurt Zouma once again pair up in central defence.
Jorginho will keep his place in central defence and N’Golo Kante should also start since the World Cup winner has played very little football this season.
As far as Mateo Kovacic is concerned, the former Madrid man is expected to be rested in midweek as Mason Mount comes into the first XI after starting the City game on the bench.
Willian and Christian Pulisic will hopefully keep their place in the starting line-up but there are rumours that Tammy Abraham could be rested for this match.
If Abraham drops to the bench then it will be Michy Batshuayi who will get a rare start this season.
But we feel since this is such an important game for Chelsea in terms of qualifying for the knockout stages we don’t think Frank Lampard will take any risk meaning he should go with the England international upfront instead of Batshuayi.
Chelsea’s predicted XI vs Valencia:
Starting XI: Kepa Arizzabalaga; Reece James, Azpilicueta, Tomori, Zouma; Jorginho, Kante, Mason Mount; Willian, Pulisic, Abraham/Michy Batshuayi.
Injury list via Premier Injuries.
