Olivier Giroud is expected to start again for Chelsea when they face off against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea will be aiming to take a step towards progression to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League when they lock horns with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie on Tuesday night.
Heading into the game, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard does not have any fresh injury concerns. However, Chelsea continue to be without the services of wingers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic, while midfielder N’Golo Kante is also expected to miss out once again.
Having switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation in the 2-1 win against Tottenham in the Premier League last weekend, Lampard could be tempted to stick with the same when Bayern come visiting. Personnel changes are also likely to be a minimum given how the team performed in the derby.
Lampard has preferred to use Willy Caballero in goal in the last three matches over Kepa Arrizabalaga and is unlikely to change that up against Bayern Munich.
The three-man backline is also unlikely to be tinkered with captain Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen expected to start again, with Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori on the bench. The wing-back slots should once again be occupied by youngster Reece James and Marcos Alonso, who was on the scoresheet in the win against Tottenham at the weekend.
With Kante out injured and Ruben Loftus-Cheek only recently returning from a long layoff, Lampard will have little room for rotation in the middle of the park. As a result, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, both of whom were excellent against Tottenham, ought to feature again on Tuesday night.
Mason Mount and Ross Barkley, too, had a brilliant game against Spurs at the weekend and ought to continue in the attacking midfield slots for Chelsea, which would mean Willian and Pedro miss out of the starting lineup once again.
Upfront, Tammy Abraham made a substitute appearance in the last game after recovering from his injury, but Olivier Giroud put on a fine display against Spurs, in what was his first start of 2020, bagging a goal.
Speaking of Giroud ahead of the game, Lampard said, “The way the team worked helped Oli and Oli helped the team. That’s how we can look forward and to have competition of strikers scoring goals is what we’ve been lacking – we’ve lacked goals from forward areas, not just from strikers but across the front, so today feels good.”
Given Giroud’s performance in the last game, there is a strong chance that Lampard will stick with him ahead of Abraham and Michy Batshuayi when Bayern come visiting.
Chelsea Predicted Lineup: Caballero; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Barkley, Mount; Giroud