Frank Lampard is giving Chelsea another look in the 4-2-3-1 to start their penultimate preseason game against RB Salzburg. Tammy Abraham leads the line while Lampard tests his options on defence.
With Antonio Rudiger still recovering from injury, Frank Lampard needs to see every combination of defenders to decide who will start against Manchester United and – going forward – which pairs he should avoid. David Luiz and Kurt Zouma will start together for the first time this preseason, even though Andreas Christensen is still a presumptive starter for Chelsea’s early squads. Luiz and Zouma are competing to be Christensen’s partner, setting off the three-way fight over who will play alongside Rudiger when the time comes.
Fikayo Tomori is still in the squad, despite being linked to a number of loan destinations. He may still have an outside chance of remaining a Blue, at least for the first half of the season to cover Rudiger’s absence.
Tomori’s place on the bench puts him well ahead of Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko, neither of whom dressed for today’s game. This seems to confirm their fate in the loan army, even though either of them (but not both) could contribute to the squad this season.
Also conspicuously absent are Willian and N’Golo Kante. This is worrying more over the state of their fitness rather than any long-term concerns about their role in Frank Lampard’s plans.
With Kante, Drinkwater and Bakayoko not in the squad, Chelsea do not have any holding / defensive / whatever we’re calling it these days / base midfielders on the bench. Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic will start in the double pivot. If Lampard wants to bring either or both of them off, he will need to change formation or change a player’s usual role. Travis wrote earlier this week about how either David Luiz or Andreas Christensen may be more valuable to the Blues in front of the backline rather than along the backline. This lineup could be an opportunity for that thought to manifest itself.
Further up in the midfield, Lampard split up the young English duo that stole so many hearts against Reading: Ross Barkley and Mason Mount. Those two excelled individually and as a battery in the 4-diamond-2, but Lampard may not be ready to trust them together in the 4-2-3-1. With Pedro and Christian Pulisic in the line with Barkley, Chelsea will start with a solid winger corps to take the play wide and come inside.
Instead of reading into this squad Lampard’s plan for his starting XI against Manchester United, it will be more valuable to see which players he uses and which he keeps on the bench over the course of the game.
If Lampard does not bring a player off the bench today, that player may not be in the squad against Borussia Monchengladbach. Lampard has only eight outfield players on the bench today, showing how he is whittling down his squad. Add Willian and N’Golo Kante to the mix, and four outfield players from today’s squad will not be in the Premier League opener.
Some of these preseason games have carried an air of last chance saloon for particular players. Many of those are not with the team today. Those who stay off the pitch in Salzburg will have one truly last chance in Germany before a likely last minute loan.