One of the most exciting moments of the season for any fan is finally getting to see all of your team’s new signings in competitive action as the season kicks off.
You can spend all summer convincing yourself that the team has made some incredible signings and wondering how good they can be, but you never really know until they take to the field.
Chelsea have made some big signings this summer so it was always going to be interesting to see if Frank Lampard would start them all straight away, but it actually looks like he won’t have that option.
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Sky Sports have reported that Lampard has confirmed that Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell will be missing against Brighton in their Premier League opener, while Thiago Silva hasn’t trained with the team yet so he’s unlikely to play a part either.
It sounds like Ziyech could be out for weeks but Chilwell won’t be too far away, while it could just be a case of seeing how long it takes Silva to bed in and get used to playing with his new teammates.
It means Chelsea’s defence won’t look all that different to start the season, so Brighton will be hoping they can exploit the deficiencies that were on display from Chelsea last season.