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Football London
Football London
Sport
Oliver Harbord

Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount - Chelsea's expected starting team for Sheffield United

Chelsea take on Sheffield United tomorrow afternoon looking to make it back-to-back Premier League wins.

The Blues got their first three points of the season last weekend with a 3-2 win at Norwich City, with Tammy Abraham (2) and Mason Mount getting on the scoresheet.

And with the Blades the next visitors to Stamford Bridge for a 3pm kick off, both players are almost guaranteed to start once more for the Blues under Frank Lampard.

There are two concerns for Lampard once again this weekend and that is the fact that he will be without Antonio Rudiger and N'Golo Kante once again.

The Germany centre-back has returned to full training, played 90 minutes for the U23s but is yet to feature in a matchday squad for the first team in the league.

Saturday will come too early for him to feature again, meaning Andreas Christensen and Kurt Zouma will pair once more, with Rudiger to play once more for the U23s.

"Rudiger will play in the U23s tonight for the final time in terms of proper match fitness, then in serious contention after the break," Lampard confirmed.

Meanwhile, Kante was not in the squad to face Norwich and Lampard is concerned not to rush him back too early.

Chelsea v Sheffield United: Frank Lampard pre-match press conference

Lampard said: "N'Golo Kante is not fit, so the continuation of his ankle problem and he won't be travelling with the France squad either. I had a conversation with Didier Deschamps and we both agreed it's the best thing for him. Let's try and get him fit over the break.

"It's a setback, of course. My focus is then to make sure he's okay. He's had four years of constant football at an incredibly high energy and output level. We have to get that right. It's the right thing to do, we have a strong squad and the performance last week was very good. We have to be strong as a squad, and hopefully we'll show that."

It means that Lampard could go for an unchanged side from the one that beat Norwich last weekend, keeping some continuity in his starting XI.

That was a 4-3-3, with Ross Barkley playing with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, while Christian Pulisic starts on the right wing, with Pedro also not fit.

Predicted Chelsea XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson; Kovacic, Jorginho, Barkley; Pulisic, Abraham, Mount.

 
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