Chelsea will be looking to return to winning ways and pick up the first in Frank Lampard’s second spell as head coach when they welcome an underperforming Brentford side to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are currently without a win under their interim head coach and bowed out of the Champions League last week but a win will certainly help them end the season on a positive note.
Ahead of the Brentford clash, Lampard has confirmed three members of his squad will miss the match, including two who could have played their last game this season due to injury.
Reece James, Kai Harvetz and Mason Mount have all been ruled out of Wednesday’s tie.
“Reece James is unavailable for this game and probably for the rest of the season as well,” said Lampard. “Reece had a hamstring injury that he picked up in the Madrid game, got through the game, but we scanned it in the following days and he’ll be out.
“Kai is still struggling a bit with his knee so he hasn’t been training with us, which is obviously disappointing for us, but he should be back training at the start of the week.”
“Mason is the same as Reece unfortunately, although he possibly might be back in time for our last game of the season, but that’s not certain,” added Lampard.
“Mason has been carrying this pelvic injury for a quite a while, it definitely predates myself by a while.
“He’s been trying, typically, and the medical staff have been trying, but we’ve got to the stage now where he will have minor surgery and that will be probably a four-week recovery, and we all know where that gets us to.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Frank will be looking to see if his Brentford side can improve on their form having failed to pick up a win in their last six Premier League outings and just three points from a possible 18 during that spell too.
Frank insists that Lampard’s side are favourites for Wednesday’s clash, but sees no reason why the Bees can’t get a result – just like they emphatically did with a 4-1 win in SW6 last season.
“I think we all know that Chelsea have been struggling a little bit this season, but they have some very good players,” the Bees head coach said in his pre-match press conference.
“Under Frank [Lampard], I know they haven’t won in the four games he’s been in charge, but they are playing with big energy and more intensity; on the eye and also on the numbers.
“They played a very good game, for example, against Real Madrid at home, who I think won a tiny cup, the Champions League, last year?!
“They have top players who they bought for around £600 million over the last two transfer windows, and they haven’t forgotten how to play football – sometimes it just takes one moment or a good week working with them.
“At Stamford Bridge, they are clear favourites, but we hope and believe we can do something.”
Discussion about this post