Frank Lampard is doing the right thing and keeping Tammy Abraham out of the squad to face Manchester United. But what does it mean for Chelsea to have their record goalkeeper on the bench against a top-four rival?
Frank Lampard is sending a message to someone, and the football world will spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the message is and who the recipients are. Chelsea will face Manchester United with Willy Caballero in goal, as Kepa Arrizabalaga watches his second consecutive “six point game” from the bench. That’s £72 million sitting a few seats away from the ne’er-to-be-seen Olivier Giroud, who cannot find his way into the starting XI even with Tammy Abraham out of the squad.
Joining Arrizabalaga and Abraham out of the starting XI is Mason Mount. This is only the fourth Premier League game of the season Mount has not started.
Mount has played in every game this season except the first Carabao Cup game against Grimsby Town, so the question is what situation will Lampard turn to Mount as a substitute? If the Blues are comfortably ahead, will Mount have the entire night off, or can Lampard not stomach that possibility?
Lampard’s lineup to face Manchester United is almost certainly the oldest he has fielded this season, and not just because Willy Caballero single-handedly takes the average age a big step towards “yer da” territory.
Reece James is the only “youth” player. With Callum Hudson-Odoi injured, Pedro and Willian are together up front; and Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger displaced the Fikayo Tomori – Kurt Zouma partnership at the back. In many ways, this is the Chelsea XI we would be used to seeing this season under any manager other than Frank Lampard.
If only because of the novelty, this lineup is a massive gamble for Lampard. Michy Batshuayi and Pedro together have fewer playing minutes than 11 Blues do individually. The midfield and defensive batteries are all used to playing with each other, but not in this combination. And then there’s the Willy Caballero factor at the back.
The other side of the gamble is if it works. If Chelsea ride the experience of these players to a convincing victory over Manchester United, Lampard may be under pressure to put the youth revolution into abeyance until the Blues get through the crucial upcoming run of games.
A win could also call into question his commitment to the young players over the first part of the season. He will be in the middle of the usual conflict at Stamford Bridge of planning for the future and taking care of the club’s own versus the immediate need to win that has driven his predecessors out of the job.
This lineup may be a sign that the time for warm-hearted youth development is over and there’s business to attend to in the final few months of the season. Or it may just be a response to the ongoing injury issues that we have chronicled here throughout the season. When Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi are able to play for the first-team, we will then know where they stand for the remainder.
And here you thought this game couldn’t carry any more weight than a usual Chelsea vs. Manchester United fixture!