Lampard To Start Against Manchester United

Photo: Marc Atkins

Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that Frank Lampard will be starting against Manchester United on Sunday. It was a huge sigh of relief to see Lampard back in the squad last week and to see him starting a match after three months is like signing a new £30 million player. Frank Lampard is one of those players who doesn’t get a lot of media attention, in fact, he gets a lot of negative press. However, I think that the world would have seen how we are missing Frank Lampard and his goals.

The 2-0 win against Stoke for the last match Frank Lampard started and coincidentally, it was one of his worst for Chelsea. However, Chelsea have really missed the thrust and the goals that he provides from midfield and it is worth mentioning that only Michael Essien has scored a few goals from midfield since this absence. Normally, Frank would have scored around 10 goals and these could have been the difference between drawing and winning in the past five or six matches. Ancelotti said that Lampard played in a friendly match on Thursday and had come unscathed.

“He played 60 minutes without problems and finally he will play on Sunday. He will start. It is good news because this team missed Lampard, his ability to score from midfield and his experience.“

One of the few things that Chelsea have forgotten to do in the past few matches is shooting from distance and Lampard is certainly a master of that. However, can he perform against the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic after being out of action for so long?

Last week’s match against Tottenham was also the match in which, Didier Drogba finally seemed to be back to his old self and he seems to have fully recovered from the malaria illness he recently suffered. His first goal was certainly reminiscent of the best of him and Chelsea do really need the best of him if there is any chance of winning against Manchester United this Sunday.