Chelsea: Four things to look for as Blues go to Selhurst Park

Chelsea travels to Selhurst Park for a mid-week bout against Crystal Palace. Here are some things to look for in the match.

While a usual trip to Selhurst Park seems like a rather insignificant tie, this fixture carries extreme weight. Chelsea will be looking to keep its form and go on a run to spark another unbeaten streak, hopefully watching them climb into the top four race. Here some things to look for as Chelsea takes on Crystal Palace:

1. Who fills the Kante role?

At this point, Frank Lampard is starting to toe-the-line with the fitness of certain players. N’Golo Kante’s tweaked hamstring at the end of the Watford match was a warning shot for what could very quickly become an all-out crisis. While many rotation decisions are up to the manager’s best judgment, Kante’s injury has forced Lampard’s hand. The closest like-for-like substitution would be Billy Gilmour, whose last full outing was a bit of a catastrophe, and who wasn’t particularly brilliant in his short cameo against Watford. Ideally, you would let the 19-year-old play through his mistakes and find his best form again, but the pressure on each match in these closing weeks doesn’t lend itself well to experimentation and development. Points are the most important thing, pure and simple.

If it’s consistency that Lampard is looking for, Jorginho is probably the safer option. Since the restart, it’s been fairly obvious that Lampard is actively avoiding using the Italian, and Chelsea has arguably looked better for it. Now, however, he may have no choice but to station Jorginho in the heart of Chelsea’s midfield. It may not be what you want, but at least you know what you’re getting. If you want to make a quick buck, place a small bet on Jorginho picking up a yellow card for a cheap foul on Wilfred Zaha. You’re welcome.

The perfect solution would be Mateo Kovacic. Unfortunately, he was Chelsea’s first casualty of the restart after picking up an Achilles injury—though thankfully not as serious as the Callum Hudson-Odoi/Ruben Loftus-Cheek versions. Replacing Kante is an impossible task, but Kovacic was someone who could at least pull off a reasonable impression of the Frenchman. Go figure they’d both end up injured at the same time—welcome to Chelsea Football Club in 2019/20.

When the lineups are announced before the match, Lampard’s intentions will be made exceptionally clear based on whose name replaces Kante’s on the team sheet. If it’s Gilmour, Chelsea will be looking to replicate the type of energetic performance that overwhelmed Watford, albeit with a bit less confidence. If it’s Jorginho, it’ll be all about control and precision, like when Chelsea had those dominant victories over… hmm, no one comes to mind. Of course, Lampard could come flying in off the top rope with something truly exotic; Reece James as the holding midfielder maybe?

Whatever he decides, the Blues won’t be quite as stable as they were against Watford and Wilfried Zaha will probably be licking his lips. Hopefully, Lampard can piece together something that at least plugs the gap for 90 minutes.