Here are your Chelsea morning headlines for Tuesday, 20 October.
Barkley to make permanent move?
Ross Barkley has hit the ground running since his loan move to Aston Villa. He scored in his debut against Liverpool, then followed that up with the winning goal at Leicester on Sunday.
Considering he never scored more than three league goals in a season for Chelsea, it has been quite a start. And former Villa manager Tim Sherwood told talkSPORT that he believes the move could be made permanent.
“I think he will sign permanently for Villa. Huge football club, seems like he’s enjoying the platform he’s been given,” he said.
It remains to be seen if Villa can match his reported £110,000 weekly wage, though, so this deal is a long way from being certain at this point.
Goalkeeper boost for Blues
Chelsea get their Champions League campaign under way at Stamford Bridge tonight, when they welcome the reigning Europa League champions Sevilla to west London.
And Frank Lampard has been given a boost ahead of the match with the news that Edouard Mendy could be fit to play having trained with the rest of the squad.
The Blues’ new goalkeeper missed the match with Southampton on Saturday, and Kepa Arrizabalaga made an error upon his return to the side in the game which ended as a 3-3 draw.
However, whether Kepa plays tonight or not, Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has backed his countryman to work hard to reverse his form, as he explains here.
Sevilla boss backs Chelsea
Tonight’s match should prove vital in terms of which team tops Champions League Group E this season.
Chelsea are the favourites to do so, but Sevilla are next in line and have proved their European pedigree time and time again, especially in the Europa League.
However, the Spaniards’ manager, Julen Lopetegui, spoke to the media yesterday and claimed that the Blues could become European champions this season.
“We are against one of the teams that can win the competition in Chelsea. We need to perform well tomorrow, that’s the only thing we can do,” he said.
Loptegui also gave his thoughts on both clubs’ disjointed pre-season campaigns, and you can read what else he had to say here.
