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Frank Lampard has said that Chelsea are not a contender for the Premier League title and vowed to make changes against Aston Villa while seeking a reaction to their decline in form.
Chelsea were beaten 3-1 at Arsenal on Boxing Day, their third defeat in four Premier League games to drop them to eighth in the table.
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Lampard had already complained about the Chelsea schedule, arguing that it would be “almost impossible” to play for the same team in two games in 48 hours, but hinted that he would drop several star names after a lackluster display at Emirates Stadium.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was among several prominent figures who said Chelsea were a real challenger this season, but Lampard was once again angered by the suggestion that they should be considered among the favorites, despite spending more than £ 220 million this summer in players.
“There will be some changes [against Aston Villa] and I knew it anyway, “said Lampard.” I’m certainly not going to beat the drum on our quick change after our performance [against Arsenal]. It is not the important point. Playing two games in two days, we have to make changes anyway.
“Some of them will now happen because of how the game was and people will have to come in and inject the energy and personality that is into our normal performances.
“Normally, the reason we were undefeated so many games was because of that. We’ve come out of that and we need to get back to it quickly. Part of that is maybe where we are as a team.
“People wanted to talk about us as title contenders, but I never accepted that it was because we are not there. It takes time to build. Games like Saturday are the ones we have to learn a great lesson from, everyone included because When I see that in the first semester today, I don’t like it, that can’t happen.
“We’ve seen some crazy results this season and a lot of teams have had ups and downs. At the moment that we are in a position where out of the last four games, we have lost three of them and won one. That needs a reaction.”
Timo Werner and Mateo Kovacic are likely to be among those rotating out of Chelsea’s starting lineup after both were substituted at half-time against Arsenal.
Source: espn.co.uk
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