Frank Lampard will be without World Cup winner N’Golo Kante as Chelsea take to the Wembley Stadium to face Manchester United in the FA Cup Semi-Final.
Manchester United have posed a potent threat to Chelsea so far this campaign, something Frank Lampard has agreed with. As Chelsea prepare to take on the Red Devils for the fourth time this season, this time with a place in the FA Cup final up for grabs, Lampard will be without key midfield general N’Golo Kante for the big game.
In defence, we might see a couple of changes. Lampard will be well aware of the triple threat of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood. In such a case, he could go for a balanced player like Reece James ahead of the overly aggressive Marcos Alonso. Cesar Azpilicueta will shift to the left to accommodate Reece James on the right.
The central defensive pairing of Antonio Rudiger and Kurt Zouma should start once again. But, we could see the manager go with a more experienced head to guard the Chelsea goal, which means Kepa would be replaced by Willy Caballero. Lampard shined a bit of light on Kante’s availability and other fitness concerns during the pre-match conference.
“The squad is okay but N’Golo Kante won’t be fit for the match. He’s still not right so he’s out. Other than that, we have a few people with a few little niggles which we’ll monitor over the next 24 hours and then we will be ready to go.”
In midfield, Jorginho should start in Kante’s absence as the jugador responsible for keeping control of the midfield. Mateo Kovacic is guaranteed to start and while Ruben Loftus-Cheek did feature from the get-go against Norwich City, he wasn’t as impressive and could be replaced by Mason Mount in the lineup.
In attack, Tammy Abraham’s disappointing run of form and Olivier Giroud’s increasing influence will see the latter likely start against Manchester United on Sunday. Willian and Christian Pulisic will stick to the wide positions, especially with Mount likely to come forward and take the number 10 role in the midfield whenever Chelsea have possession.
Chelsea Predicted XI: Caballero; James, Rudiger, Zouma, Azpilicueta; Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount; Willian, Giroud, Pulisic
Let kovacic play central defense and willian play 8 odoi on the Right wing.
Kepa,Tomori,zouma, Cesar,James,kovacic, Mount,William,pulisic,odoi, Abraham.