Frank Lampard has yet to taste victory since returning to Chelsea as caretaker manager and has yet to pin down his best starting XI. The Blues boss has swapped between systems based upon a back three and back four since returning but been unable to galvanise a performance that has seen success defending and going forwards in the same game.
The Blues boss wants to play free-flowing football but has not felt able to for most of his tenure so far. Arsenal will not present the easiest challenge to achieve in that area.
He said: "I’m not torn but coming in here, the systems have changed a lot, I had been playing 4-3-3 [last time] but I don’t think there’s one answer. Sometimes, even against Madrid, I was criticised for being too defensive. For me, it was the only way to approach the Madrid game and we could have been 1-0 or 2-0 up and the whole tie then looks different.
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"Brentford was different but I mentioned managers have to compromise earlier. At the moment, where we are, there are things that I look at and think, we can’t be that fluid like we’ve tried when we went to Wolves with 4-3-3 and we don’t win a game so it is not always an absolute answer after the event that’s an easy one.
"Do I want to play more free-flowing? Yes. When I was here before I think people thought we were too free-flowing at times. When I looked at my underlying nature of how we were playing in my first season here, we had one of the highest xG and against us was one of the lowest xG [expected goals] but we still conceded more than we should have done because there are different reasons sometimes. In the short term, I want to find some consistency in our work. That’s challenging sometimes because you have to put pieces of the puzzle together and, in just five games, that not always easy."
There's an argument to be made that Lampard will want to repeat the discipline he showed in team selection against Real Madrid. While the offering was limited against Brentford, it may be difficult to see the Chelsea legend veering too far away from that selection despite a limited threat on goal.
Kepa Arrizabalaga will start in goal, with Wesley Fofana and Thiago Silva appearing to be set within their roles in the back three, while Benoit Badiashile will hope to earn a place on the left side of the three. Cesar Azpilicueta could be sacrificed to make way for Trevoh Chalobah's abilities on the right side of the pitch, or Lampard could look to a more attacking option in the form of Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
N'Golo Kante, Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic and Conor Gallagher could bulk out the centre of the pitch to try and limit Arsenal's progression with a strong press, while should he be fit enough Kai Havertz could lead the line to put pressure on Rob Holding. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could take that role if Lampard simply opts to utilise an attacking focal point, but the German forward's pressing may see him come straight back into the side.
Predicted XI: Kepa; Fofana, Silva, Badiashile; Loftus-Cheek, Kante, Fernandez, Kovacic, Chilwell; Gallagher, Havertz.
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