Lampard Under Pressure at Stamford Bridge

12/29/2020 3207

Going back to the match at Everton on the 12th of December, a victory in that game would have seen Chelsea move to the top of the Premier League.

The Blues arrived at Goodison Park on a 9 match unbeaten run in the Premier League including victories over Crystal Palace, Burnley, Sheffield United, Newcastle United, and Leeds United.

However, Chelsea were defeated 1-0 by Everton thanks to a goal from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute. Just 3 days later, Chelsea travelled to Molineux to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers and despite taking the lead in the game they lost 2-1, conceding the decisive goal in the 90th minute.

It appeared as though Chelsea put those defeats behind them as they beat West Ham United 3-0 at home. Having taken the lead in the 10th minute, Chelsea were forced to wait until the 78th minute to double their lead and secured the points with a third goal just 2 minutes later.

Frank Lampard’s team travelled to play struggling Arsenal and were the favourites to take all 3 points, especially as The Gunners were missing some of their most experienced players.

Come the half time whistle, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down against an energetic Arsenal team, featuring several young players. Things got worse early in the second half as Arsenal extended their lead and Chelsea eventually lost the match 3-1.

There was a quick turnaround to their most recent game as Chelsea hosted Aston Villa on the 28th of December. Aston Villa arrived at Stamford Bridge with plenty of confidence following some good recent displays but it was Chelsea who took the lead thanks to a goal by striker Olivier Giroud.

However, with several changes to the starting XI, Chelsea could not put Aston Villa away and they scored the equalising goal early in the second half.

Despite being the home team, Chelsea could not create the good chance they needed to score the winning goal and the game ended 1-1.

Ahead of the completion of the 16th round of Premier League fixtures, the draw against Aston Villa leaves Chelsea in 6th place, with the possibility of dropping to 8th place should Southampton and Tottenham win their matches.

Lampard spent over £200 million on Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, and Edouard Mendy in the summer. The amount of money spent means this season is completely different to the previous campaign when Lampard was forced to use the players he already had at his disposal.

Werner and Havertz have been disappointing since arriving at the club, with the former scoring just four goals in his first 16 Premier League appearances.

There is now the possibility that Chelsea's next two fixtures could be postponed as their next opponents, Manchester City, cannot train due to COVID-19 and League Two side Morecambe have had two games called off for the same reason.

That could mean Chelsea's next match is at Fulham on the 15th of January and they could find themselves cut adrift from the top of the table by that stage.

Chelsea appear flat right now and if they do not pick up a couple wins in succession soon; the title may be out of reach come February. That would be bad news for the manager.