Jose Mourinho suffered another set-back last night as he watched his Chelsea side crash out of the League Cup to lowly Sunderland as they lost 2-1 thanks to an injury time goal from Ki. It was a poor performance from the capital side, so here are three players who I think should lose their place for the weekend.
1) Samuel Eto’o
The Cameroon striker has continued his sluggish form up top and Jose Mourinho has some serious thinking to do ahead of this weekend’s clash with Arsenal. The former Inter and Barcelona attacker has scored just four goals in his 15 outings so far this season and has looked uninterested at times, and he never really got into the game against Sunderland.
During the 75 minutes that he was on the pitch Eto’o had just 30 touches of the ball – less than anyone else on the pitch, bar Phil Bardsley who came on in the dying seconds of extra time.
2) Frank Lampard
Super Frank was far from his best up in the North East. Although he had a lot of the ball, Lampard struggled to really get a foothold. He did play some neat passes and had three shots at goal, but I got the feeling that in a game of this nature it might have been better to play a more athletic player.
3) Cesar Azpilicueta
The full-back was reinstalled on the right of defence but he did little to suggest that he is worth a starting place at the weekend. His ball retention was poor throughout and he was caught sleeping in the second half.