Mark Lawrenson states his prediction for Brighton v Chelsea FC
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Sep 13, 2020
Chelsea finished fourth last season, 33 points off champions Liverpool, and their outlay has ramped up expectations with some considering they should now be challenging for the title.
Chelsea have brought in Germany worldwide Kai Havertz for £72m, as well as compatriot Timo Werner for £48m and England global Ben Chilwell for £45m.
Last term, Lampard was forced to field a number of youngsters from the academy, with the club having been sanctioned by Federation Internationale de Football Association for breaching rules on signing young players, but expectations are now higher given the investment in the squad.
Chelsea begin their Premier League campaign on Monday at Brighton but despite five key additions and one for the future, Frank Lampard is not done yet in the transfer market. And that comes with the territory of this job.
"Other people can talk about whether we challenge or not".
'The pressure on me to do better than last season should be standard, regardless of anything. I won't pick the team on whether you came from the academy.
Helped by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea have been Europe's biggest spenders so far with an outlay of £200m - and six major signings made.
Yet Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has questioned whether Chelsea will be able to blend all their new faces into a coherent unit.
Germany allowed their young star to cut short global duty to train with Chelsea ahead of the new season and he is in contention to start against Brighton on Monday evening. I'm not jumping ahead.
'I don't want to talk about us making a statement, I understand the players brought in will obviously get a lot of talk about us.
"It is not a simple story that bringing in players must win you the league".
"I'm surprised if you didn't think I wasn't under pressure last season".
"Fikayo trained with us today and is in contention for the Brighton game so that's where we're at", Lampard said. Ziyech's fellow new signings Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell are also not yet ready for their debuts.
Silva is yet to train with Chelsea after taking extra time to rest following Paris Saint-Germain's run to the Champions League final in August. "Thiago is now in London but he's not training with us until the weekend so I doubt he will be in contention for Brighton", he added.
Thiago Silva will start training with Chelsea this weekend, so Monday's Amex Stadium trip will be too soon, but captain Cesar Azpilicueta and US forward Christian Pulisic are in the reckoning.
