Pressure on Chelsea legend Frank Lampard is turned up -Thomas Tuchel in pole position if there is boss change at the Bridge

BY PAUL LAGAN
paul@slpmedia.co.uk

The pressure on Frank Lampard has ramped up significantly this week as Chelsea prepare to face Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with German Thomas Tuchel waiting in the wings.

The Blues’ 1-1 draw against Aston Villa on Monday was a marginal improvement on the disastrous performance at the weekend when they succumbed 3-1 to lowly Arsenal.

This followed back-to-back away Premier League defeats.

Chelsea’s only win in the past five league matches was a 3-0 derby victory over West Ham. They have won just seven of their 15 league matches this season and could be as low as eighth in the league by the time City come to the capital.

That match may yet be rearranged as the visitors deal with an outbreak of Covid-19 which saw the postponement of their match at Everton on Monday.

Tuchel, 47, was sacked by Paris Saint-Germain on Christmas Eve and is known to be keen to work in the Premier League.

Arsenal was his first choice but the prospect of working with German internationals Toni Rudiger, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner will prove to be irresistible should he get the call.

Rudiger, who was restored to the starting line-up for the Villa match, has fallen out of favour at the Bridge, and would welcome the chance to prove to Tuchel that Lampard was wrong to drop him as a regular starter.

Only Chelsea’s poor results has seen him drafted back – Kurt Zouma and Thiago Silva were both dropped as Lampard made six changes to try and arrest his side’s slide.

Left-back Ben Chilwell came closest to snatching an undeserved winner on Monday night.

The Blues defender, 24, said: “He [Lampard] is more pleased than he was the other day.

“It is a draw at home and we want to be winning these games – but the effort and the performance was a lot better. The mentality was the main thing we wanted from it, that was better.

“I know it is disappointing we have drawn the game but we have to look at the positives, which is 48 hours later after a pretty poor performance we have played well and shown good character.

“I know the way we want to play at Chelsea is with the full-backs joining in. I have that licence that when I do go forward I know the midfielders are going to cover me.

“I do like to get forward but the priority is obviously defending, but when I have the opportunity to go forward I do.”

Of his effort which zipped inches wide, he said: “It was the last minute of the game, Callum [Hudson-Odoi] put a lovely ball in so I thought I might as well just hit it, and I could not have hit it any better.

“At the moment we are not quite getting the rub of the green, maybe on another day that goes in, but we will keep working hard and try to put things right.”

Lampard will be hoping that creative midfielder Hakim Ziyech will have recovered from injury to return to first team action.

Lampard said: “We can’t rely completely on him. He was very effective for us in terms of creation and goals. It helped, we were very fluid until he got injured. We want him back.

“There’s a possibility he could be fit for City if it goes ahead. He’s close.”

Lampard was keen to accentuate some positives and Hudson-Odoi was a player he was keen to promote.

“I liked his performance and his range of passing in the first half. Some of his movement and touches were great but we want to see the end product and for him to go one-on-one – like at Arsenal.

“That’s the level of top wingers in the Premier League. He has the capabilities, that will be the next stage for him.”