Chelsea boss Frank Lampard spoke at a press conference on Monday afternoon ahead of the vital game against Brendan Rodgers’ high-flying Leicester City side. Here are three things we learned.
Kante won’t be fit for the game
“Christensen is available and N’Golo unfortunately isn’t. His hamstring’s not ready.”
Lampard still sees Tomori’s long-term future at Chelsea
“Fikayo is a developing player. As a squad we had four centre-backs last year – I can’t play four in one game – and you try and find consistency at different times.
“Fikayo was in and later on not so much. Then this year we have five centre-backs, so the predicament is difficult for centre-backs who aren’t playing regularly.
“That’s why he may go out on loan for his development. He’s a young player and his development has been a huge rise in the last two or so seasons. That will continue and we’ll find the best path for that.”
And he’s still backing Werner
“When you are a top player, as Timo has shown he is, all eyes are on and it becomes magnified. But the basics are the same and that’s what my job is; to tell him that and work with him on it.
“He needs support and help around him, he needs to keep his head down and focus. My job is to support around him and give him positivity and confidence because Timo Werner didn’t score the goals over the last few years that he’s scored by chance. He scored those goals because of his huge talent.
“This will be a small period in what will be a fantastic career for him at Chelsea. I’ve got no doubts about that. I hope people around it can see it that way.”