Lampard defends rotation, admits West Ham loss is 'reality check'

Frank Lampard has explained the reasons for the unexpected starting XI selection for the West Ham game as well as replacing Olivier Giroud with Callum Hudson-Odoi rather than an out-and-out striker.

The Chelsea manager said as quoted by The 5th Stand: "Michy Batshuayi has had more opportunities of late and I felt it was the game to give Oli a chance because he’s been really professional and training well. We wanted to get balls off him into the box.

"The feeling to get Callum on was to get another player on who could beat people one-on-one. They were defending crosses pretty well so I felt he could maybe produce a bit of magic.

"We knew we wanted to run behind their back-line and we felt we could get in behind with Mason Mount, Pedro and Christian. There were bright signs early on but it petered out. 

"The whole stadium felt a bit off it today, the feeling was down and we didn’t do anything to up that so it was one of those days, unfortunately.

"I hate losing and I hate losing against West Ham but it might be a reality check that there’s work to do across the board."

Chelsea have not won a game since the international break, drawing with Valencia and suffering two defeats in the Premier League. Despite the disappointing run of form, the Blues are still 4th, although their advantage could be cut to 4 points if Wolves beat Sheffield United on Sunday.