Chelsea are down and out this season but they need to pull themselves back up because Lampard’s men still have three more games to play and their next match is against Manchester City.
City will have the chance to win the Premier League title on Sunday so the Blues will look to delay this opportunity by picking up a win. To be honest, we don’t think this Chelsea side has what it takes to even pick up a draw against Manchester City and barring a piece of individual brilliance, Chelsea are staring at a defeat.
Frank Lampard and his players are completely out of ideas and at the moment all of them are looking towards their new manager with hopeful eyes.
Chelsea’s last win against Man City came in 2021 in the Champions League and in their previous five meetings, the London side haven’t managed to score even a single goal. The home side are the clear favourites to win on Sunday and the only motivation that Chelsea have right now is to play party spoilers by stopping City from being crowned the champions in front of their home support.
Chelsea’s team news and injuries vs Man City:
Frank Lampard has the biggest squad in the Premier League but the interim manager is also dealing with a very long injury list.
Currently, as many as nine players are out injured and there’s a big chance none of them could return this weekend.
Ben Chilwell, James, Cucurella and Koulibaly are all ruled out for the rest of the season which means young Lewis Hall will have to start at left-back and Chalobah will operate on the other side of defence.
If a defensive crisis was not enough then Lampard will be sweating over his midfield selections as well because both Kante and Kovacic could have played their final game of the season. Kante missed the Forest game due to a groin issue while Kovacic was taken off in that match with an injury.
Lampard had said after the match: ‘I know he had a bit of an issue going into the game. It was clear yesterday in training. I spoke to him before to see how it went. I haven’t followed it up since the game, to be honest. We hope he’s OK.’
Fresh reports are suggesting that Kovacic’s injury is not minor and he will not be fit to face Manchester City on Sunday.
With Mateo Kovacic and Kante both set to miss out, Gallagher and Loftus-Cheek will have to play alongside Enzo Fernandez because Mason Mount is also missing with a hip injury.
Sterling scored both goals in the 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest so he will hold onto his place in the side and even Joao Felix will be favoured ahead of Kai Havertz.
In his pre-match press conference, Lampard has now revealed that he’s lost another defender to injury after Badiashile picked up an injury in training.
He said on Friday: ‘Benoit[Badiashile] injured himself in training two days ago, his groin, and will miss the game. We’re assessing that now as we speak.’
Badiashile’s absence means Chalobah will now have to come into central defence alongside Thiago Silva and Azpilicueta will play on the right-hand side, taking Jack Grealish.
Chelsea predicted line up vs Manchester City:
Predicted starting line up(4-3-3): Kepa; Hall, Silva, Chalobah, Azpi; Fernandez, Gallagher, Loftus-Cheek; Joao Felix, Sterling, Madueke.
