Hazard out of Derby clash but Luiz says there are 20 players ready to play

Frank Lampard will get a great reception from the Chelsea faithful tomorrow night as he brings his Derby County side to the Bridge for a Carabao Cup match.

Chelsea’s all-time goalscorer, who also went on to play for Manchester City, is still considered one of the finest players of his generation and one of the greatest midfielders of all-time.

However, as a fledgling manager he will be up against Maurizio Sarri’s side who are coming into the game from the backdrop of a 4-0 thrashing of Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday. All this was achieved without the talisman Eden Hazard.

It put to bed the suggestion that the Blues were a one-man side.

Hazard is recovering from a back injury and won’t feature in the clash against the Rams. Instead Sarri will look to Sunday’s clash against Crystal Palace as the stage for the Belgian to show his mercurial talents. David Luiz feels that the Blues don’t need Hazard anyhow.

The Brazilian centre-back said: “We have many talented players here, not just Eden. “It is every single one. Even when we lost Pedro in the first 10 minutes of the game and in came Ruben [Loftus-Cheek].

“We have other talented players also. This is a big club and at a big club, you cannot just play with 11 players. You have to have a minimum of 18 or 19 players ready to play and we are happy because we have more than 20.”

Chelsea Women secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Liverpool on Sunday in a dominant WSL1 performance that underlined the Blues’ current inability to blitz the opposition. The goal was a spectacular overhead strike from Magda Ericsson.

Manager Emma Hayes said: “Magda is a real leader on then pitch and you could see from the players’ reaction to her goal the esteem in which she is held by her peers.” The Blues face West Ham, away on Sunday.