Chelsea: Four things to look for as Blues host Southampton

4. The winners and losers of the international break

Mason Mount will come back riding high after a productive international break, but he’s far from the only one. Olivier Giroud, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz all found the back of the net for their national teams as well, while the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho put in typically solid performances for Croatia and Italy, respectively.

On the other hand, there is a significant group of players returning whose stock with Lampard will be lower than it was when they left.

For N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy and Ben Chilwell, injuries managed to curtail their international contributions, and their availability for this weekend is still unclear. While those are unfortunate strokes of bad luck, other players return with no one to blame but themselves for their problematic international performances.

Antonio Rudiger almost single-handedly undid every bit of good work Havertz and Werner did against Switzerland, committing three mistakes that led to all three Swiss goals, and should have absolutely received a straight red card in the last minute of the match for a vicious elbow on a set piece. Speaking of last-gasp red cards, Reece James managed to earn himself his first international sending off in his first international start, after verbally abusing the officials at the end of the match against Denmark. It should have been a glorious couple of weeks for James, but he’ll unfortunately be returning to Cobham with more bad memories than good.

Then there’s the Tammy Abraham and Ben Chilwell situation. The players violated COVID protocols by celebrating Abraham’s birthday right at the start of the break. While neither player tested positive for the virus, it’s a lapse of judgment that Lampard will no doubt find incredibly frustrating, and some degree of punishment should be expected.

It can be easy to overreact to how international performances should carry over to club football, but in this case, there are some decisions Lampard will have to make that are a direct result of the international break. Specifically, Kante and Chilwell are likely to be unavailable on Saturday through injury, while Abraham, Rudiger, and James will presumably find themselves out of Lampard’s good graces this week. These nuisances actually make life a bit easier for Lampard in a sense, in that he doesn’t have as many variables to juggle in crafting the right team and tactics to beat Southampton. You can likely bet on Mount, Havertz, Werner and Kovacic to start, with Giroud and Jorginho being likely contributors as well. Azpilicueta and Emerson are the likely fullback pairing, with Zouma and Silva presumably starting at center back. Mendy will be the big game-time decision, as his minor thigh injury has had more than a week to heal.

Suffice to say, international football always throws a wrench into club managers’ plans, and this one has been no different. How Lampard reacts to the various international fortunes of his players will be telling, and will likely set the tone for this upcoming run of important fixtures.