After another great victory in the Champions League, the Blues of Chelsea have their flags flying high in the sky. Their Premier League position is a testimony to the fact that the Londoners have played some fantastic football this season the league. But at Stamford Bridge this weekend, Lampard’s men face Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, which might become a whole new ball game for Chelsea, in the Premier League.
Leeds play with a very specific style of football as they press high up the pitch and run riot in counter-attacks. Frank Lampard has said in his pre-match press conference that he has a fully fit squad to play in the weekend. Chelsea have an array of talent in their squad and it will be a headache for Lampard to pick the starting XI.
Let us now have a look at how Frank Lampard might set his Chelsea side up against Leeds in the Premier League.
THE 4-3-3
With a fully fit squad, Lampard will have all the options to choose from varying from personnel to systems as well. This might possibly be the strongest lineup Lampard can put out in the weekend with all the four attacking summer signing in the starting XI. Kai Havertz has returned from injury and has earlier showed that he can play in the midfield, alongside the likes of Kante and Kovacic.
The defence in the Chelsea side is unchangeable in the Premier league as all four of Silva, Zouma, Chilwell and Reece James have done extremely well for Lampard. Against Leeds, Lampard will want Kante to be at his best to stop Bielsa’s side from playing their best football. Off the ball, the front three will also need to work hard as Leeds play a very expansive style of football with a lot of men bombing forward all at once.
Hakim Ziyech hasn’t been able to show that part of his game so far where he has to go back and defend, thus he might be very important.
THE 4-2-3-1
The 4-2-3-1 is another system which has worked very well for Lampard and his men as the squad has a lot of variety and quality. The midfield pivot will have Kante and Kovacic in such a system and thus it will allow Reece James and Ben Chilwell to bomb forward and join the attacking quadruple. This system will also suite Giroud upfront who scored four goals in the midweek in Champions League.
The Frenchman will enjoy the quality of Ziyech and Havertz and will surely be a handful, especially when he will bring Werner into play by holding the ball up. Timo Werner has struggled for goals in the Premier League and hasn’t cemented his spot in the Chelsea side. Even Ziyech has struggled in the last few games to deliver accurate crosses into the box and has been wasteful.
It will be a spectacle for the neutrals as two of the best sides in the Premier League go against one another. Chelsea will have the edge over Leeds due to better players but it is expected to be a thriller.
