This evening, Chelsea welcome Derby County to Stamford Bridge in a Carabao Cup tie.
For the winners a place in the last eight of the competition beckons.
But, this tie carries the added enhancement of one Frank Lampard returning to Stamford Bridge as the manager of the opposition side for the first time. Lampard has, of course, already returned as a player for Manchester City, after his contract expired at Chelsea and wasn’t renewed.
Naturally, Lampard is looking forward to the game and seeing if his Championship side can produce a cup upset in a similar vein to the one they produced in the previous round when they knocked out Manchester United, at Old Trafford, on penalties.
Talking about his emotional return and as reported by the BBC, Lampard has commented:
“I realise how important Chelsea were in my life and what I owe for that in terms of thanks.
“I’ll be proud and honoured to be taking my team to a club that was my home for 13 years and still feels like home.
“I’ve got great affiliation with Derby already, I’m working hard to do something good here and I love it, but I can’t forget 13 years of my career.”
Frank is sure to get the welcome he deserves from his adoring crowd.
As usual, here at Vital Chelsea, we’re running our Match Day Moments feature whereby we invite you to offer your views on a variety of subjects including, but not limited to:
1 – The build-up to the big cup tie.
2 – The starting eleven selected by Maurizio Sarri.
3 – The action as it happens at Stamford Bridge.
4 – Your immediate thoughts after the sounding of the final whistle.
Fingers crossed that it’s the home fans who’ll be smiling come the end of the action.