After scoring five goals against Wolves, Chelsea seem to be finding their rhythm under Frank Lampard just in time for a tricky Champions League test.
Tammy Abraham will hope to continue his fantastic form after a hat-trick against Wolves ensured he had seven goals in his last three appearances (as per Transfermarkt). Indeed, after a difficult start to life as the club’s main striker (his performance against Manchester United at the start of the season was criticised by pundits on talkSPORT), it does seem as if things are clicking now.
Elsewhere, Mason Mount is also enjoying a brilliant start to the season, having scored three goals in his first five Premier League games (as per Transfermarkt).
The two right now must be amongst the first names on the team sheet but for Frank Lampard, how exactly will he set his team up against Valencia?
For the Champions League opener, Frank Lampard will be forced into one change – Antonio Rudiger – after the defender sustained an injury against Wolves. Kurt Zouma is pretty much the only other option in place of Rudiger, which is a slight worry given that the Frenchman was slammed by sections of support (via Football FanCast) for his performance against Sheffield United.
Indeed, Rudiger has already averaged more tackles per game (1, per WhoScored) than Zouma (0.4), so it’s not exactly great news.
Up-front, Lampard may feel the need to swap Christian Pulisic for Willian after the latter played the full 90 minutes against Wolves on Saturday. During that game, the Brazilian was handed just a 6/10 rating by Football.London and was said to have ‘provided little in the way of attacking impetus during the game’, so perhaps there would be scope to turn to a more dynamic option.
With that in mind, the American has averaged 2 dribbles per game (more than Willian, with 1.8) and Los Che shipped five goals against Barcelona over the course of the weekend, suggesting they are susceptible to attacking pressure.
Elsewhere, it would be harsh for Lampard to make any more changes after Chelsea performed so well in their 5-2 domination of Wolves.
How would you line up if you were in charge? Let us know…
