Chelsea are scuffing the bottom of the pan right now but things are about to get even worse because they will face Real Madrid this week.
The 1st leg went 2-0 in favour of Madrid and with the way Chelsea are playing, the Spanish side have one leg in the next round of the Champions League.
After Potter’s sacking, Lampard was brought in to steady the ship but the former Blues midfielder hasn’t been able to turn around the club’s fortunes. The Blues are winless in their previous five matches and even though they are playing at home, Madrid are the odds-out favourites.
The Chelsea management is scrambling to find their next permanent manager but whoever the new boss is might have to make do without European football next season. Currently, they are 11th on the Premier League table so if they are knocked out of the UCL then at best, they might get to play in the Conference League next time around.
Chelsea’s team news and injuries:
Koulibaly is ruled out with a hamstring injury while Ben Chilwell misses out due to a red card suspension. With Koulibaly missing, Fofana will partner Thiago Silva and Cucurella replaces Chilwell.
N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic did not start in the Brighton defeat but the midfielder duo will come back into the side this week. This means we are going to see a change in formation from 4-2-3-1 to Lampard’s favoured 4-3-3.
Mason Mount has been getting some game time since Frank Lampard has taken charge of Chelsea but against Madrid, he will have to be content with a place on the bench.
Mudryk provided an assist against the Seagulls and he is in line to get another start because Kai Havertz has sustained a small knee problem. The interim boss has said that he will be fit for Tuesday but because Mudryk had a good game at the weekend, he should hold onto his place. If the Ukrainian international starts then Joao Felix will play through the middle.
Havertz has trained at Cobham on Monday but the Chelsea boss is more likely to rely on the pace and trickery of Mudryk.
Lampard can do very little in terms of rotations and unless there are a few pieces of individual brilliance, it’s almost impossible for Chelsea to overturn the 2-0 deficit and progress to the next round.
Chelsea predicted line up vs Real Madrid:
Predicted Starting Line up(4-3-3): Kepa; Silva, Fofana, Reece James, Cucurella; Enzo Fernandez, Kovacic, N’Golo Kante; Felix, Mudryk, Sterling.
