Frank Lampard claims N’Golo Kante has been “rested” for Chelsea’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers this afternoon.
The Blues have travelled to the Molineux Stadium on Saturday ahead of their Premier League fixture versus Wolves.
Frank Lampard has selected his first starting line-up since becoming caretaker manager until the end of the season, which includes two changes from the team that recorded a 0-0 draw against Liverpool in midweek. Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling replace N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell.
It certainly looks like Lampard has moved away from a back three and is using a 4-3-3 formation this weekend. Chelsea confirmed their official starting XI on Twitter.
The eye-catching omission from Chelsea’s match day squad against Wolves is Kante, which is an immediate concern when you consider his poor injury record.
Thankfully, Lampard confirms that the 32-year-old is only rested on Saturday. We don’t blame him with the Champions League tie against Real Madrid next week!
Chelsea’s interim boss said, via Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, that Kante is completely “rested” for the trip to Wolves.
Let’s give some credit to Paul Merson, who predicted Kante could be rested against Wolves.
He was fantastic earlier in the week against Liverpool and it would be great to watch him again, but this is the sensible decision with Madrid on the horizon.
If Chelsea are to cause a big Champions League upset, Kante’s energy and quality in the midfield is likely to be crucial.
Let’s see how a midfield trio of Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic and Conor Gallagher get on today at Molineux. If the Blues need more midfield reinforcements from the bench, Denis Zakaria and Ruben Loftus-Cheek provide decent options.
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