Chelsea Predicted XI: We predict Frank Lampard’s starting XI as Chelsea welcome Sheffield United to Stamford Bridge this afternoon

Chelsea Predicted XI: We predict Frank Lampard’s starting XI as Chelsea welcome Sheffield United to Stamford Bridge this afternoon.

Frank Lampard’s spent over £200million in the transfer window, filling his squad with quality players from across Europe.

However, despite an influx of big signings, the Blues’ have been very inconsistent both in terms of performances and results.

There are clearly signs of promise though, with Chelsea recording a very impressive five clean sheets in a row across all competitions.

Lampard knows that managing his squad will be one of the most difficult aspects of this season and with a few key players unavailable today, Lampard will be forced to make changes.

Today at 3pm the Blues face the Blades who currently sit bottom of the Premier League with no wins from their first seven games.

So which players will the ex-England international task with getting a positive result and three Premier League points?

Here we predict Lampard’s starting XI…

Goalkeeper: Edouard Mendy has firmly established himself as Lampard and Chelsea’s number one. The shot-stopper has recorded a clean sheet in each of his last five games, which is very impressive by any goalkeeper’s standards. Lampard will not want to rest his in-form keeper, so Mendy is a definite starter for today’s encounter. 

Defenders: Lampard will be delighted with his side’s run of clean sheets and will be hoping for the same again today. He will also be wary of managing his squad to limit injuries so we expect some personnel changes. Thiago Silva played very well against Burnley and again in the Champions League, meaning the Brazilian is unlikely to feature again today. We expect to see Antonio Rudiger start alongside Kurt Zouma in the heart of defence. With Cesar Azplilicueta providing experience at right back and Ben Chilwell on the left.

Midfielders: Lampard has so many options to choose from in the midfield positions and usually likes to play three in the middle of the park. N’golo Kante is Lampard’s go-to man at this current time and is likely to start alongside Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount in the middle of the park. Christian Pulisic is currently nursing a hamstring injury and might make the bench and Kai Havertz is still sidelined due to a positive Coronavirus test.

Forwards: Timo Werner was due to start on the bench against Burnley last weekend and we expect that to happen today with Olivier Giroud given a chance from the start. Calllum Hudson-Odoi will be given licence to attack down the flank, where we believe Tammy Abraham could start on the opposite side in a much-changed attack for Chelsea. However, Werner and the other attack-minded players will be on the bench and raring to go, if the starters don’t perform.

Predicted XI: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rudiger, Emerson, Kante, Kovacic, Mount, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi, Giroud.