Here are the Chelsea morning headlines for Saturday July 18.
Lampard: Chelsea do not have an advantage over FA Cup opponents United
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard does not believe that his team has an advantage over Manchester United ahead of Sunday evening’s FA Cup semi-final.
The two clubs will meet at Wembley, with United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pointing out that Chelsea had an extra 48 hours to prepare, as the Blues’ last game was against Norwich City on Tuesday night.
United, meanwhile, faced Crystal Palace on Thursday night.
But Lampard does not believe that will give the Blues the advantage going into tomorrow’s game.
He said : “No, I don’t think we do.
“We played Saturday/Tuesday this week, they played Monday/Thursday so we have both played two games this week as it stands.
“We are in a period where we are playing games very regularly and you become, play, recover, play again and recover and you work with the squad as it is.”
Defenders a high priority for Chelsea – but Blues face competition for top players
Chelsea’s defensive problems have been well documented this season.
The Blues have conceded 49 goals so far this campaign, which is the second-highest amount in the top half of the Premier League table.
Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen have particularly struggled of late, both making a number of costly mistakes in recent defeats at West Ham United and Sheffield United.
It means that Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is likely to dip into the transfer market to strengthen his backline but, in doing so, will face competition from Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, who all want to bring in defensive reinforcements, according to Goal.
Chelsea have been linked with West Ham’s Declan Rice in recent weeks, as have United.
Chelsea target Chilwell “could miss beginning of next season”
Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell, who has been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea, may miss the start of next season, according to the Daily Mail.
The England international has already been ruled out of the Foxes’ final two games, against Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow and at Manchester United next weekend.
And Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers is confident that Leicester will not sell any of their players, including Chilwell, with Chelsea manager Frank Lampard an admirer of the 23-year-old.
Rodgers said: “I am not worried at all. We’ve got a fantastic squad that we want to keep together, so I don't worry.
“There’s no intention to sell Ben Chilwell and there is absolutely no need for us to sell him.”
