Chelsea Starting XI Prediction vs Luton Town (FA Cup 4th Round)

Blues boss Frank Lampard admits he’s worried about his team right now and it’s clear the pressure is getting to him right now. As speculation that he’ll get sacked ramps up, he unloaded on Liam Twomey, a reporter with The Athletic in his press conference today, ahead of the Sunday FA Cup clash vs Luton Town.

“At a time like this, when confidence seems to be low in the squad, and lots of players, individually, seem to be struggling, how valuable is it to have someone else around the first-team, who, like you, had a very similar winning mentality as a player and similar experience in good and bad times at the very top level?” Twomey asked (see video below)

Lampard beefing Liam Twomey ? pic.twitter.com/Z8Avk82c4F

— Pys (@CFCPys) January 22, 2021

Chelsea FC vs Luton Town FA Cup 4th Round FYIs

Kickoff: Sun Jan 24, 12:00 GMT, Stamford Bridge

Chelsea Starting XI Prediction: go to this link

TV/Stream: BBC One/BBC iPlayer

Referee: David Coote

“I think their confidence would be shot if they were to read the pieces that you write at the minute,” Lampard responded with noticeable disdain.

“I read some of them and some of the confirmation bias you always reflect on games with is almost like a social media pundit to try and get a reaction in a negative way. I read the pieces when we were doing well, as well, and they didn’t go both ways.

“I think for a journalist to be objective would be a big start because if players do read it, I’d feel like that,” he added, before then moving on to actually answering the question that he was asked.

Twomey gave the following response to this tirade on his Twitter account

I’m reluctant to respond at all because I’m really not important to what’s happening at Chelsea (certainly not enough to be discussed in a presser), but I’ll just say I respectfully disagree with Lampard’s opinion of my objectivity.

Good or bad, it’s never personal ? #CFC

— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) January 22, 2021

All that said, let’s move to on who Lampard might select for his first team on Sunday.

Chelsea Starting XI Prediction vs Luton Town

Kepa; James, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson; Jorginho, Gilmour, Havertz; Pulisic, Werner, Hudson-Odoi

Prediction: Chelsea 3, Luton Town 0

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.