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Frank Lampard's first starting line-up back at Chelsea with four big calls for Wolves game
Frank Lampard is back in the dugout as Chelsea's interim manager for their game against Wolves.
Frank Lampard has wasted no time shaking things up on his return to the Chelsea dugout with a few big decisions for his squad against Wolves this afternoon. Chelsea announced Lampard's return following their 0-0 draw against Liverpool this week and he took charge of his first training session on Thursday.
He's only had a couple days working with his squad, which is vastly different from the one he had when he was sacked back in 2021. And the former England international has made drastic changes to the Chelsea team, starting with shift in formation.
Lampard appears to have gone with a 4-3-3 formation with Ben Chilwell dropping to the bench. N'Golo Kante has been left out of the matchday squad altogether with suggestions it is precautionary ahead of their clash against Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Raheem Sterling and Conor Gallagher have been brought into the starting line-up in place of Chilwell and Kante respectively.
It's Gallagher's first start for Chelsea since the beginning of February while Sterling has only just returned from a hamstring injury. There's also a surprise on the bench with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang among the substitutes.
The 33-year-old was out of favour under Graham Potter and has played just seven minutes in the league since January. He had been left out of Chelsea's matchday squad for their previous four league matches as well, but looks as though he could be given a chance against Wolves.
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Mason Mount has also missed out on the trip to the Molineux with the midfielder reported to have picked up an injury. Lampard was asked about Mount's situation at Stamford Bridge during his press conference this week with the 24-year-old facing an uncertain future.
"I don't know enough about it to talk about it and I think it would be wrong for me to delve into anything other than, Mason has always been a fantastic player for me from my days at Derby, the impact he had there to when I came back to Chelsea," he said. "It's with absolute pleasure that I've watched him amongst others that I coached in that period, Reece James, Tammy Abraham and Tomori to have gone on to be huge players here or elsewhere.
"That's great but with Mason I know he's had a few slight injury problems, so I understand, it will be important to speak to him. I know what I get from Mason, so I just want to see him perform on the pitch. We have a good relationship so we'll talk a lot, I think he's a huge player for Chelsea and has been in his time here, so I look forward to talking to him more.
Starting XI: Kepa; James, Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; Fernandez, Kovacic, Gallagher; Felix, Havertz, Sterling
Bench: Mendy, Chilwell, Badiashile, Chalobah, Loftus-Cheek, Zakaria, Mudryk, Pulisic, Aubameyang