Frank Lampard’s first season at the helm of Chelsea has been an exciting yet restless time for both fans and everyone involved at the club.
The Blues, who come off the back of a 5-3 defeat to champions Liverpool, find themselves in fourth place with one remaining fixture left. This see’s them take on Wolves at the Bridge on Sunday, a team that are looking for European football once again.
Lampard’s young Blues just need to match whatever Leicester do in their final game against Ole Gunnar Solskjærs’ Red Devils in order to secure Champions League football.
This season, Chelsea have not been able to really find much consistency with results during this transitioning campaign, which has been highlighted by the manager and players themselves.
The Record Chelsea do not want to break
If Wolves find the back of the net just once against Chelsea on Sunday, it would equal the blues worst ever defensive record in the Premier League era.
They have already conceded 54 goals in the league this season, their worst display under Roman Abramovich's long reign.
They currently have one of the worst defensive record of the Premier Leagues Top 10, as well as sitting above Norwich in terms of goals being conceded from corners. The Blues have conceded 10 from corners this campaign.
Over the course of the season, Lampard has tried to address his team’s defensive mishaps, but has had no real luck in finding a solution to his squads’ problem.
He has consistently rotated the back four, using around 17 different defensive line-ups this season whilst also experimenting with a back three and back five.
Kepa Arrizabalaga
The worlds most expensive goalkeeper, £71.6million, moved to Chelsea from Atletico Bilbao in summer of 2018.
Kepa Arrizabalaga has received lots of criticism over the course of the season for his performances between the sticks which at times have been fair analysis’s.
This season he has only been able to keep 8 clean sheets, conceding 47 goals thus far in the league, which is not title winning form when you concede nearly 1.5 goals a game.
The Spanish international, clearly has a lack of confidence at the moment and that had been realised by the manager, as Kepa was dropped for a couple of games in the season.
Pundit Jamie Carragher said on Sky:
"Chelsea will go no further unless they change the goalkeeper. I know they keep buying a lot of attackers, but you see how many goals they have conceded. I think a lot of that is down to the goalkeeper”
What is next?
Chelsea still have Champions League qualification in their own hands which is a huge factor going into the final set of fixtures.
Lampard speaking to Chelsea TV:
“I don’t want to dwell on how many goals we have conceded, I want to concentrate on where we are at. We have a game to go and we want to win that game to get in the top four.
"Do we want to improve in terms of how we defend? Of course, we want to improve. That is part of the process but now let’s be very positive about the game that is in front of us.”
However, if the blues want to be champions of England once more their needs to be a huge reshuffle in personnel at the back.
Change Between the sticks?
Over the last few weeks, Chelsea have been linked once again with Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak of Athletico Madrid. The 27-year-old has been linked with a move to the bridge in previous years.
Manchester United have also been linked to the big shot stopper, but he currently has a release clause of 120 million euros which could be a defining factor to if any club goes in for him.
If Chelsea, bought in Oblak it would show a huge intention to the league and most definitely sure up the Blue’s defensive backline.