An all-important match in Chelsea’s Champions League campaign is set to be played tomorrow in Amsterdam, as we face last season’s semifinalists Ajax to potentially overtake them in the group standings. A victory would also extend our current streak to six wins, thus repeating Maurizio Sarri’s feat from the start of his tenure in London last season.
For this upcoming game, we might have the return of two very important players to our cause. Centre-back Antonio Rüdiger, and left-back Emerson Palmieri, were seen training with the rest of the squad that travelled to the Netherlands today.
Unfortunately, as it has been custom since the end of last season, Chelsea will also have to endure key absences. Most notably, midfielders N’Golo Kanté and Ross Barkley were absent from training, and will be out of the fold after injuries during international duty, and in our 1-0 win over Newcastle last weekend (respectively).
Another player that will be amiss is defender Andreas Christensen. He also got an injury while playing for his national team, Denmark, last week; and he was unable to recover from his problem just yet.
So while it is good that Lampard will have two returnees, the absentees will make sure that he has a bit of a problem to select his starting eleven heading into this Wednesday’s match. Still, hopes should remain high that we will be able to put an end to Ajax’s early dominance in the CL, with back to back 3-0 wins against Lille and Valencia thus far.