Chelsea manager Frank Lampard can already feel the heat turning up a bit as Chelsea have only taken four points from their first three Premier League games. And if you watched last week’s disastrous draw with West Bromwich Albion, you’ll likely agree that they were lucky to even get a point from the affair.
A slow start to the season, plus already getting bounced from one cup competition, after the biggest summer spending spree in club history, is just plain unacceptable. Given what we know about Roman Abramovich’s itchy sacking trigger finger, and well, Lampard needs to right the ship sooner rather than later.
Chelsea FC vs Crystal Palace FYIs
Kickoff: Sat Oct 3, 123o pm BST, 7:30 am EST, Stamford Bridge, London
TV: BT Sport (UK) Peacock (USA)
Chelsea Team News: go here
Match Official: Michael Oliver
Odds via bet365: Chelsea win 2/5, Draw 4/1, Crystal Palace win 6/1
Looking at the potential starting XI for the next fixture, a Premier League clash at home against Crystal Palace, one can expect to see league debuts for a couple summer signings.
Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and left back Ben Chilwell, both part of the $250 million plus buying spree, saw their full time Chelsea debuts in the Carabao Cup loss on Tuesday night.
Chilwell revealed that Chelsea club legend Ashley Cole was a big influence in his decision to make the switch from Leicester City.
“Coming to Chelsea, as well as talking to the manager, a big factor for me was speaking to Ashley Cole when I came here and seeing the career that he had here,” Chilwell said at a press conference today.
“Obviously I wanted to emulate him and still do. To have someone like that who has played for Chelsea, who is English, it was important for me,” he said.
“I spoke to my agent because I was quite keen on getting to meet him so I could get to know him and kind of pick his brains on what he thought of Chelsea as a club, how he reached the success that he reached here.
“I was quite keen to have that chat to find out stuff like that. I am going to work as hard as I can for however many years to try and emulate what he’s done here.”
“He just said: ‘Work hard, I know it sounds pretty cliched but fans here love players who want to work hard and die for the badge. Just put everything into winning for the football club because it is a great club.’ When he first came in here, he wanted to win for the club.”
“He loved playing for Chelsea and he said if I could take that on board, that wanting to love the club and win for it, then I should have a great career here.”
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction vs Crystal Palace
Mendy; James, Zouma, Silva, Chilwell; Kovacic, Kante; Mount, Havertz, Werner; Abraham
Final Score Prediction: Chelsea 3, Crystal Palace 2
Palace have looked pretty good this season, and they’ll be a tough opponent here, but Chelsea are in such need of a result here that one should be confident they’ll get it done.
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.