Chelsea need to bounceback after two disappointing defeats. They lost the chance to seize the UEFA Super Cup after losing to Liverpool on penalties. Now, the club faces Leicester City, who will want to make a point against a top-six side. Frank Lampard will be hoping his first Chelsea home match will result in a victory to turn the tide.
Chelsea Bounce Back Needed Versus The Foxes
Super Cup Hangover
Frank Lampard and his team really did not want this final to last for an extra 30 minutes plus penalties. This will prove to be some factor in terms of fatigue against Leicester. The Super Cup was played in Istanbul in hot and humid conditions and on a cut-up pitch. Leicester have not had a game in midweek and should be the freshest side.
Mentally, the match could have affected some of Chelsea’s players. Tammy Abraham missed the all-important penalty. As a result, this resulted in some despicable and unacceptable racial abuse in social media posts. Hopefully, the young star will bounce back and rise above those disgusting comments.
Predicted Line-Ups
Chelsea
A key return for Chelsea is the enigmatic figure of Ngolo Kanté. He was left out of the first league fixture since he had missed pre-season due to injury and was thus lacking fitness. Lampard enjoyed his performance against Liverpool, though, insisting there is “more to come” from the player.
Willian and Antonio Rudiger were only available on the bench against Liverpool. But, they did not feature in the match. After two successive defeats, Lampard may well want to tweak his side and include one of these more experienced stars in his line-up.
Young Mason Mount was a second-half substitute in the Super Cup after he started against Manchester United in that miserable defeat. He looked bright and came close with a few chances. He also stepped up to score a penalty for his team. It will be interesting to see if Lampard will hold his position over the youngster, or cave to his critics.
Predicted starting XI: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Marcos Alonso, N’Golo Kanté, Jorginho, Willian, Ross Barkley, Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud.
Leicester City
After their 0-0 draw with Wolves, the Foxes will be looking to build on their performance. This is despite having 70% possession and 16 shots, but only one shot on target. With some of their attacking options in Pérez, Maddison and Vardy, this is quite disappointing. These players are capable of more goals if their team can create enough clear cut chances.
Predicted starting XI: Peter Schmeichel, Ricardo Pereira, Jonny Evans, Caglar Söyüncü, Ben Chilwell, Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi, Ayoze Pérez, Youri Tielemans, Hamza Choudhury, James Maddison, Jamie Vardy.
Wilfred Ndidi Amongst It All
Ndidi sat down to give an interview to his club’s media, detailing a busy summer. This includes his busy life on and off with the pitch, with the 22-year-old getting married. He did get a start in the first Premier League match, but without much pre-season preparation with his domestic team. Instead, he was playing every match in the African Cup of Nations with his country Nigeria.
The Super Eagles star spoke about the difficulty of the upcoming fixture against Chelsea: “Despite the fact that they’ve lost two games, it will be a difficult game and we will have to be alert. We got a point against Wolves, but we can be better going into the Chelsea game. We’ll go there to try and get something out of it.” He also added: “We have to try and create more chances now.”
Verdict
Chelsea need to bounce back quickly after their poor start. Leicester City have room to improve and must be more clinical in creating and taking chances. This is a match for both teams to attempt to foster some kind of momentum early in the season. The Blues have a deeper and higher quality squad to draw from. But, as Leicester have proved in the past, it is more about how those players bond and play with one another. Thus, this should create an entertaining match where the Foxes may well provide a shock against Chelsea.
Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City
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