Chelsea will take on Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Here is the team we expect Frank Lampard to select for the game:
Goalkeeper: Kepa Arrizabalaga doesn’t look like he’ll be recalled any time soon so Willy Caballero is expected to keep the gloves despite conceding three goals against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
Defence: Chelsea went with a back three/five in the Champions League but they were ruthlessly exposed by Bayern so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lampard reverting to a flat back four tomorrow afternoon. Andreas Christensen is likely to keep his place alongside Antonio Rudiger in the middle of defence with the Danish international wearing a mask to protect his broken nose so Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori will battle for places on the bench.
Cesar Azpilicueta could move to left-back following his stint in the back three while Reece James is expected to keep his place on the right so Marcos Alonso would be the man to make way if Lampard does change formation.
Midfield: Chelsea will continue to be without N’Golo Kante as the Frenchman is still nursing a muscle injury but Jorginho is likely to keep his place in midfield despite a disappointing showing against Bayern.
Mateo Kovacic should start once again in the middle of the park while Mason Mount may move into a more central position alongside Jorginho and Kovacic having played further forward on Tuesday night. Ruben Loftus-Cheek has made his comeback from a serious injury recently but a place on the bench is the best he can hope for this weekend due to a lack of match fitness.
Attack: Chelsea have received a blow with the news that Tammy Abraham has been ruled out of the trip to Bournemouth after aggravating a niggling ankle injury during his substitute appearance against Bayern. Olivier Giroud could continue to lead the line up front with Michy Batshuayi coming in on the bench but we may see a couple of changes to the Chelsea attack with Willian and Pedro both pushing for recalls.
The pair were named on the bench in midweek so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them come in tomorrow as Ross Barkley is likely to drop back to the bench while Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic remain on the sidelines due to injury.
