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Football London
Football London
Sport
Scott Trotter

Confirmed Chelsea starting lineup vs Brighton as James benched, Silva, Havertz out, Mudryk start

Frank Lampard has made six changes to his Chelsea side as the Blues legend returns to the Stamford Bridge dugout for the first time since being named caretaker manager until the end of the season.

Kalidou Koulibaly pulled up with a hamstring issues versus Real Madrid and has since been ruled out for a matter of weeks, while Thiago Silva is only at Stamford Bridge this afternoon as an interested onlooker. That sees a back four Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Ben Chilwell in front of Kepa Arrizabalaga, with Reece James dropping to the bench.

Conor Gallagher and Denis Zakaria come into the midfield three to partner Enzo Fernandez with N'Golo Kante dropping out of the squad and Mateo Kovacic being confined to the bench. Joao Felix is also among the substitutes as Christian Pulisic and Mykhailo Mudryk both start along with Raheem Sterling.

READ MORE: Chelsea vs Brighton LIVE: Live stream, kick-off time, team news and updates for Lampard reunion

Lampard hinted ahead of the game that there could be changes. He said: "Tomorrow [Saturday] will be an opportunity for some players who didn't play in the Champions League, possibly didn't play at the weekend, to come in because it's a game where we absolutely need freshness and energy as well. So every opportunity, they should take."

Confirmed Chelsea XI: Kepa; Chalobah, Fofana, Badiashile, Chilwell; Gallagher, Fernandez, Zakaria; Pulisic, Sterling, Mudryk.

Substitutes: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Cucurella, James, Kovacic, Mount, Felix, Ziyech, Aubameyang.

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