CHELSEA 2019/2020 SEASON PREVIEW
Frank Lampard
2019/ 2020 season is Chelsea's 106th competitive, 31st consecutive season in the top flight of English football, 28th consecutive season in the Premier League.
Chelsea ended the 2018/19 season with silverware, but it is the return of a fans' favourite, Frank Lampard - not that Europa League success - that has breathed new life into Stamford Bridge.
With the departure of Maurizio Sarri and their best player last season, Eden Hazard; Sarri moving to Juventus and Hazard away to the Southern part of Europe, Madrid.
Not even a transfer ban - which Chelsea have taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport - and the inevitable sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid has seemed to diminish hopes for an encouraging season.
The inability to make signings, and Lampard's man-management qualities, should bring about a greater sense of unity in what became a tense dressing-room. Ross Barkley has shown signs he is ready to fulfil his potential, and the stage is all his for the start of the season with new arrivals from season long loan like Mason Mount, Reece James, Tammy Abraham and with an experience Olivier Grioud at the pack.
There is no guarantee that Lampard is going to succeed at this level, not in his first season as a top flight league manager and the absence of their best player last season Eden Hazard. The transfer limbo also means Lampard may offer second chances to outcasts such as Christensen and members of Chelsea’s returning loan army, with Kurt Zouma hoping to challenge in central defence after a year at Everton and the departure of David Luiz on deadline to Arsenal, Kenedy an option on the wing after a year at Newcastle and the midfielder Tiémoué Bakayoko keen to prove himself after spending last season at Milan.
Yet questions linger. Is Ross Barkley capable of a consistent run of form? Was it a mistake to sign Mateo Kovacic, an underwhelming presence on loan from Madrid, on a permanent basis? Will Ruben Loftus-Cheek be the same after injury? Do Giroud, Batshuayi and Abraham convince up front? And will there be enough spark without Hazard? Lampard will need time to come up with the right answers, of course.
On the look of it there is much to like about Lampard’s return to the club he knows inside out, where he is respected by the club’s notoriously hard-to-please board and revered by supporters who will feel waves of excitement wash over them when they see their manager in the away dugout at Old Trafford on 11th August. It is an appointment that makes sense on a number of levels, not least because installing Chelsea’s record goalscorer should have a restorative effect on the mood after a year dominated by less than complimentary chants about the quality of Sarriball. Lampard will bring unity, that's of course a great advantage as view compared to Sarri who had issues with players and the board. Yet for all the romance of Lampard’s homecoming, there are awkward realities to confront. The lack of creativity at the dept of Midfield.
In Sarri’s place arrives a 41-year-old who has been managing for a year, finished sixth in the Championship with Derby County and lost the play-off final to a more experienced English manager, Aston Villa’s Dean Smith.
Well, it will fall down to the players to perform to their best.
Still, imagine the excitement if it is Lampard leading a title race. For all the current uncertainty it would be glorious.
The premier league kicks off today, 9th August, 2019 with Liverpool taking it straight to the newly promoted side, Norwich City at 20:00 GMT+1.
Chelsea will log it out with Man Utd at Old Trafford on Sunday, 11th August, 2019 by 16:30 GMT+1.
Asuzu Emmanuel
