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Chelsea: Four things to look for as Blues host Southampton

By Nate Hofmann

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 01: Declan Rice of West Ham United and Christian Pulisic of Chelsea battle for the ball during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Chelsea FC at London Stadium on July 01, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 01: Declan Rice of West Ham United and Christian Pulisic of Chelsea battle for the ball during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Chelsea FC at London Stadium on July 01, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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Socially distanced fans watch from the stands as Chelsea’s Moroccan midfielder Hakim Ziyech goes to take a corner during the pre-season friendly football match between Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea at the American Express Community Stadium in Brighton, southern England on August 29, 2020. – The game is a ‘pilot’ event where a small number of fans will be present on a socially-distanced basis. The aim is to get fans back into stadiums in the Premier League by October. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
Socially distanced fans watch from the stands as Chelsea’s Moroccan midfielder Hakim Ziyech goes to take a corner during the pre-season friendly football match between Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea at the American Express Community Stadium in Brighton, southern England on August 29, 2020. – The game is a ‘pilot’ event where a small number of fans will be present on a socially-distanced basis. The aim is to get fans back into stadiums in the Premier League by October. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) /

3. The Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic show

It’s unfortunate that Chelsea’s best performance of the season came right at the beginning of the international break, as the Blues manhandled Crystal Palace to the tune of a 4-0 walkover. Preserving that momentum is tough when everyone heads straight from the locker room to their respective national team camps across the globe.

While maintaining some of the continuity from the excellent Crystal Palace result would be good, the more interesting possibility is actually the roster shakeups that Lampard might employ coming out of the break. Namely, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech should now be fully fit and ready to play their first meaningful minutes of the season this weekend.

For Ziyech, it will be his first taste of Premier League football full stop. For Pulisic, he’ll be looking to find the form he carried through Project Restart all the way into the FA Cup final, where he suffered the hamstring injury that he is only now fully recovered from.

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It’s hard to know just how ready they really are, but Lampard will undoubtedly be thrilled to have both wingers available, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see both players start. Will there be a shot of anxiety every time one of them makes a hard cut or turns on the pace to beat players? Absolutely. But at their purring best, Pulisic can look like one of the best players in the Premier League, while Ziyech has looked like an all-world attacker in his own right in Ajax’s Champions League matches.

It would be smart to temper expectations on Saturday, but there’s no reason not to hop on the hype train if there are at least a few highlight moments. Ziyech and Pulisic have the potential to be Chelsea’s two most exciting players this season, both in gross statistical production and individual moments of skill. Southampton will be the first step on the road to both players finding their best form as the season well and truly gets rolling.

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