Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has opened up on why Fikayo Tomori has been snubbed in recent weeks.
Tomori played 11 straight games before the turn of the year, as Chelsea won seven of 11 but after back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and West Ham, Tomori found himself on the bench.
He has been in and out of the team since then and his last league appearance for the Blues was the 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates in December.
Since the victory over Arsenal in December, Lampard has favoured the centre-back partnership of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen in the league.
Lampard has now explained his reason for snubbing Tomori in recent weeks and claims the decision is down to squad depth.
“I have four centre-backs to choose from so generally every week two of them are unhappy,” Lampard said.
“And then people question you when you change it all the time, and question it when you stick with a back two or back three.
“So there is competition in that area. So yes, with Fik he always has to train at the top level, that goes for all of the young players because when you are out of the team, however much it hurts, you need to show a good attitude and train very well.
“And at the moment he is, he’s been in and round it and he has a long career ahead of him at this club without a doubt.
“And really it’s been more about selection issues.”