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Football London
Football London
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Alan Smith

Chelsea XI vs Sevilla confirmed: Edouard Mendy starts as Frank Lampard makes three changes

Edouard Mendy is fit enough to start for Chelsea in tonight's Champions League Group E opener against Sevilla at Stamford Bridge, with Frank Lampard making three changes from the team that drew 3-3 with Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.

Thiago Silva returns to the centre of defence, in place of Andreas Christensen, while Reece James returns at right back in place of club captain Cesar Azpilicueta.

The Spaniard's absence means that Jorginho captains the side and is paired with N'Golo Kante in midfield.

Lampard's front four from the Southampton game remains the same with Timo Werner leading the line, Kai Havertz behind him and Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount out wide. Hakim Ziyech is on the bench.

Lampard will be hoping for an improved defensive performance having complained about his players' game management at the weekend. "We need to make sure those lessons are learned quickly and the players have been made very aware of that," the head coach said yesterday.

As for what Chelsea learnt from last season's Champions League, in which they were battered twice by eventual champions Bayern Munich having lost their opening group game to Valencia, Lampard added: “Getting through the group was also difficult for us last year, having lost the first game, and so we needed to show a lot of discipline to get through hard matches away at Ajax and Lille so hopefully there’s a lot that the players have learned from that experience."

Chelsea: Edouard Mendy; Reece James, Kurt Zouma, Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell; N'Golo Kante, Jorginho; Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz, Mason Mount; Timo Werner.

Kick-off at Stamford Bridge is 8pm.

You can follow all the action in our live blog with Alan Smith and Oliver Harbord right here.

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