Petr Cech has been included in Chelsea’s 25-man squad for the Premier League season.
Despite retiring in May 2019 and taking up a role as Technical and Performance Advisor at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard has taken the surprise decision to name the 38-year-old among his playing staff.
Cech has been included as emergency goalkeeper cover due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the “unprecedented conditions” brought about by the crisis.
Cech will take up a position as a non-contract player.
His inclusion in Chelsea’s squad comes on the same day as Lampard chose drop under-fire keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for the Champions League tie with Sevilla.
New signing Edouard Mendy has recovered ahead of time from a thigh injury to displace the Spaniard and be given the chance to establish himself as No1.
Chelsea have conceded 63 goals in Lampard’s 43 games in charge – and speaking ahead of Sevilla, he made it clear where he believes the problem lies.
“I am aware of the stats,” he said. “The other stat is that since I’ve been here, we’ve conceded the second-least shots in the Premier League, I think behind Manchester City. It helps sometimes to narrow down some of the issues.
“The issues are that we don’t concede many shots on our goal, but when we do, we concede goals.”
Chelsea Premier League squad
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Antonio Rudiger
Marcos Alonso
Andreas Christensen – homegrown
Jorginho
Thiago Silva
N’Golo Kante
Tammy Abraham – homegrown
Christian Pulisic
Timo Werner
Willy Caballero
Fikayo Tomori – homegrown
Kurt Zouma
Edouard Mendy
Mateo Kovacic
Olivier Giroud
Mason Mount - under-21
Callum Hudson-Odoi - under-21
Ben Chilwell – homegrown
Hakim Ziyech
Billy Gilmour - under-21
Reece James - under-21
Cesar Azpilicueta
Kai Havertz - under-21
Emerson Palmieri
Petr Cech
More to follow.
