Lampard hints at dropping Jorginho with comments on “great balance” of Kovacic and Kante

Chelsea rested Jorginho against Aston Villa last night, and were rewarded with a really dynamic and creative midfield performance from the three men that Frank Lampard selected instead.

Speaking after the game, the Chelsea boss complimented the performances and the “balance” of the midfield pairing of Mateo Kovacic (who was superb) and N’Golo Kante.

“I thought the balance between [Kante] and Kovacic today was great,” the manager said, pausing slightly and looking up.

We’re reading into this a lot, of course. And we know that Lampard really rates Jorginho as a player who can do specific jobs very well. But after a few bad games in a row from the Italo-Brazilian, followed by this much improved showing with him out of the team, it’s hard not to read these comments as a hint we might see this setup more.

The fact that Lampard constantly subs Jorginho off shows he feels the team functions better – at least in attack – without him, and we expect this new setup to become the norm, at least against weaker teams when we’re playing at home.

Chelsea News