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Felix & Sterling given Chelsea warning as Lampard opens door to attacking changes vs Brighton

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(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling could lose their places in the Chelsea side this weekend against Brighton & Hove Albion after drawing blank in midweek versus Real Madrid.

Chelsea are without a win in their last five matches in all competitions and haven’t scored in their previous four despite having countless chances to find the back of the net.

Frank Lampard‘s return on a caretaker basis hasn’t changed Chelsea’s fortunes in the two games he has overseen and he is hoping to see some goals when they face Brighton this weekend to clinch his first win back in charge.

Felix and Sterling were given the nod on Wednesday night in Spain to face Real Madrid in the Champions League, but both were unable to put away their glorious chances to get on the scoresheet for the Blues.

It took just two minutes for Felix to be in one-on-one with Thibaut Courtois but he, once again, fluffed his lines at the crucial moment to ensure Chelsea didn’t take an early lead at the Bernabeu and continued his dismal record against the Los Blancos.

Over 20 minutes later, his attacking partner, Sterling was found by Reece James who played a low ball across the box from the right-hand side, but Courtois got down low at his near post to make a fine save to tip his shot away.

The frustrations continued as Chelsea went onto concede twice and finished the game with 10 players after Ben Chilwell was sent off in Spain.

Chelsea head back to Stamford Bridge this weekend to face Brighton and both attackers could now lose their places in the side as Lampard looks to freshen the team up ahead of a busy end to the season.

Lampard has many options available at his disposal with Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana, Noni Madueke, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all pushing to start the game for Chelsea.

The 44-year-old hinted that changes will be made, revealing in his pre-match press conference: “Tomorrow (Saturday) will be an opportunity for some players who didn’t play in the Champions League, possibly didn’t play at the weekend, to come in because it’s a game where we absolutely need freshness and energy as well. So every opportunity, they should take.”

Lampard was quizzed directly on Aubameyang‘s involvement but refused to specifically detail what role the Gabon international could have against the Seagulls on Saturday.

He added: “We’ll see on that one. I don’t want to go position specific. What I do want to say is, the players have to feel when they train and when they turn up for training and how they prepare, the competitive nature in the squad to get a place in the team needs to be high in every position.

“Auba is a bit like everyone in the squad, starting before or not starting so much, everyone needs to compete in training and show they’re worthy of their place. History says he has a fantastic goalscoring record. So, we’ll see.”

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