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Chelsea and Liverpool had polar opposites of starts to their respective Premier League campaigns. Liverpool's 4-1 beating of Norwich took them to the top of the table on opening day, since then they dropped to second when Manchester City went top, followed by Manchester United's 4-0 mauling of Chelsea meaning that Liverpool fell to third. Chelsea themselves will spend this week in 19th place in the Premier League.
The Blues had positives to take from the game against Manchester United, but there are a lot of issues with their side that need fixing. Frank Lampard remarked after the game that it wasn't a "regular 4-0" and that he has full faith in his squad. Yet, going into the midweek fixture in Istanbul, Chelsea fans won't have their hopes up for a big victory against Liverpool.
The opening results aside, Liverpool will be hoping to start their season with a trophy, having missed out on the Community Shield. Chelsea will be hoping to improve on their Premier League opener and give a good account of themselves.
Team News
Lampard seems keen on bringing some of the Chelsea youth into the first-team squad. Among those who will be important to Chelsea this season are Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, who were with Lampard's Derby County last season. Tomori may have gone to Everton on loan this season, but the last-minute departure of David Luiz means that Tomori will now fill the hole Luiz left in the squad.
We also saw Tammy Abraham start the first game under Lampard and its likely that the striker who scored 26 goals for Aston Villa in the Championship will also play a big role for Chelsea this season.
He will, of course, have stiff competition from Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi, but Lampard seems to have put his faith in the young English striker playing in his 4-2-3-1 system.
He's also awaiting the return of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Reece James from injuries. All three are set to play big roles in this Chelsea team. Some of the experienced lot in Willian and Rudiger have also been sidelined by injuries and Lampard is perhaps counting on their return to settle this youthful side.
We saw a glimpse of Pulisic in the Manchester United game, but its likely that he will start the midweek fixture along with two other substitutes from the game Giroud, and N'Golo Kante.
Marcos Alonso will probably start at left-back. Tomori could be an option in the heart of defence, but Lampard may want Christensen and Zouma to gel together and play as many games together as possible.
The referee for the game is Stephanie Frappart. She will become the first female referee to take charge of a major men's UEFA competition event.
Suspensions: none
Injuries: Willian, Antonio Rudiger, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Calum Hudson-Odoi, and Reece James
