With Ross Barkley seen training ahead of the Blues’ Champions League clash against Valencia, fans can assume the attacking midfielder’s return on Wednesday. All the excitement about the group H of the league will start breaking after Chelsea take on Valencia on Wednesday in what is expected to be a cut-throat tie.
Lampard’s men currently share the first rung of the table with Ajax and Valencia, which makes these 90 minutes very important for all three teams. The last time these two teams met at Stamford Bridge, Rodrigo’s 74th minute goal stunned the hosts as the Spanish outfit narrowly pipped Chelsea 1-0.
However, Lampard must feel a little relieved to see Ross practice and get ready in order to compensate for his missed penalty in the first leg. Chelsea has been a confident team off lately, even after their 2-1 loss to Manchester City. A victory by a margin of two goals will see them qualify for the knock out stage, the first team from Group H to reach there. But in order to win Frank Lampard needs most of his players fit and available for selection.
The English international Ross Barkley injured his ankle during the first half of the club’s tie against Newcastle United in October.
Among other updates, Antonio Rudiger is another positive boost for the Chelsea boss. The 26-year-old German defender had to undergo a pelvic surgery after he was substituted at half time against the Wolves. Rudiger, who played only a couple Premier League games for the blues this season, is expected to return by next month. He also practised for the entire session on Tuesday. However, Hudson Odoi is still suffering from a hamstring injury and will not be available any time soon.
Barkley’s has been out of action for 5 long weeks. He also had to miss his country’s international fixtures against Montenegro and Kosovo even after being included in the squad. The Englishman was also missed when the blues visited Etihad. But now that he is available for selection, Lampard would want to play with his strongest eleven at Mestalla.
Earlier Frank even defended Ross when he missed a penalty in the first leg. “Ross is the penalty taker, he was in pre-season and scored a couple. He has been when he started, he was when he came on today and he missed it. That is the clear story,” the Chelsea manager said. His belief in the 25-year-old’s ability has been very evident on and off-pitch.
Winning in Spain would be a great achievement for the English team and a win by a good margin would see them in the knockout stage with one match to spare. Lampard may also consider bringing Mason Mount back to the playing eleven after the 20-year-old rested against Manchester City.
This freshness in the squad can result in them switching back to the good-old 4-2-3-1 formation. This may give some of the other players the right kind of opportunity to showcase their talent in a key fixture for the west Londoners.
