Frank Lampard suggests that he could play Benoit Badiashile during Chelsea’s trip to Bournemouth this weekend.
Chelsea travel to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon for a Premier League fixture between two teams only separated by goal difference in the table.
For the Blues, they’re on a six-game losing streak across all competitions and are at an all-time low for confidence.
As for Bournemouth, they’re flying under Gary O’Neil with four wins in their last five league matches to soar away from the relegation battle.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference for Bournemouth, Chelsea’s caretaker manager Lampard did seem to suggest that Benoit Badiashile is in contention to play tomorrow.
When asked if Badiashile was close to playing, Lampard said: “Very close. He couldn’t play in the Champions League for me. He played against Brighton, which was a difficult match, probably for everybody. Of course, he’s close and in competition with Thiago [Silva], Wesley [Fofana], and Trevoh [Chalobah] in that area of the pitch. He’s very close. He’s training well.”
Badiashile has played just once during Lampard’s first six games in charge, albeit he was unavailable for the two Champions League ties against Real Madrid.
We feel like Badiashile’s lack of game time in the past couple of months has been through no fault of his own.
The 22-year-old defender, who joined in the January transfer window from Monaco, looked immediately comfortable at a new club and new country.
He’s a composed left-footed centre-back that has done well in his nine Chelsea appearances to date.
Owen Hargreaves recently said he can’t believe Badiashile isn’t playing more for Chelsea right now.
Hopefully, he’s given the chance away to Bournemouth!
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