Following on from last weekend’s maiden Premier League victory of the season at Norwich, Chelsea now have the opportunity to build momentum ahead of the international break with a win over another newly-promoted side in Sheffield United.
Victory at Carrow Road, whilst also handing Frank Lampard his first win as Chelsea boss, was a crucial stepping stone in the fledgeling careers of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham who both got themselves on the scoresheet.
Abraham had previously come under scrutiny for failing to impose himself at the forefront of Chelsea’s attack, but with a match-winning brace to now show for his efforts the 21-year-old has all the confidence he needs to kick on and stake his claim for a more regular starting berth.
Mount, on the other hand, continued to repay Lampard’s faith in him by netting his second goal in as many games, a promising run of form that has now seen the midfielder called up to the senior England set-up for friendlies against Bulgaria and Kosovo.
Sheffield United have shown few signs of defensive fragility thus far, but with goals seemingly hard to come by they may well come unstuck against more clinical opposition.
A disheartening late collapse at home to Leicester could well enact a more pragmatic approach from Chris Wilder, who has persisted with his unorthodox ball playing system which encourages United’s centre-halves to make overlapping runs, but with Chelsea themselves unsettled at the back there is no reason for the Blades not to fancy picking up points this weekend.
Here is our predicted XI…
