Chelsea youngster Lewis Hall should be getting his boots on and preparing for these final few games of the season.
In our view, the 18-year-old youngster simply has to play in the club’s upcoming matches!
The Blues, who won 3-1 away at Bournemouth today, did suffer another injury blow during the Premier League result.
Unfortunately, senior left-back Ben Chilwell was forced off the pitch during the second-half of the Bournemouth win. We’ve seen the 26-year-old defender have his fair share of injury setbacks in his career so far.
Caretaker boss Frank Lampard confirmed in Saturday’s post-match press conference that Chilwell sustained a hamstring problem (Football London). It’s too early to put a timeframe on his potential return, but it doesn’t look good for his chances of playing in the final four matches of the campaign.
With Marc Cucurella also currently missing with a quad injury, Chelsea’s options on the left side of the defence look very bare.
Step forward, Lewis Hall.
We think it’s a no-brainer for Hall to get some more first-team minutes this season.
The versatile teenager, who can operate effectively as a full-back, wing-back or midfielder, is the obvious replacement for Chilwell and Cucurella.
He’s a rising star from the academy and aged just 18, but there is proof already he’s good enough for first-team level.
The English left-footer has definitely responded well to his previous eight senior appearances in Chelsea colours, with many supporters desperate to see much more of him.
He’s nowhere near the finished article yet and is in the infancy of his development. We believe these next few games are just tailor-made for him to play, though.
Our remaining league games are against Nottingham Forest (home), Manchester City (away), Manchester United (away), and Newcastle United (home).
One concern we have is that Lampard overlooked Hall this afternoon and left him on the bench when Chilwell was forced off.
Instead, Chelsea’s interim boss used 33-year-old club captain Cesar Azpilicueta as the left-back.
We expect there will be major uproar from the fanbase if Hall doesn’t get minutes at left-back in the weeks ahead.
Lampard is going to do the club’s next permanent manager a big favour if he chucks Hall in at the deep end in the next few matches to learn more about him.