Frank Lampard will take charge of his first game of his second spell in charge of Chelsea on Saturday with a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Blues have failed to win in their three games, resulting in Graham Potter losing his job following last week's 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa. Lampard's appointment as caretaker manager until the end of the season has seemingly provided a boost around the club ahead of the Champions League quarter-final tie with Real Madrid.
However, they must overcome relegation-threatened Wolves this weekend first. Julen Lopetegui's side have lost four of their last seven games - failing to win in their last three - to find themselves only one point above the bottom three.
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Despite their troubling recent form, former Premier League striker Paul Merson has backed Chelsea to defeat Wolves. Speaking to SportsKeeda, he said: "This is a hard one to call because at the end of the day, there's nothing in this football match for Chelsea. They have a match against Real Madrid on Wednesday night. Chelsea are going to rest every player and if they do, they won't score many goals.
With a new manager coming in, however, they might try to win this game to gain a bit of confidence before going to the Bernabeu. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation for them.
"Six weeks ago, Wolves would've thought they would be playing against Chelsea while fighting a relegation battle. They wouldn't mind this fixture too much now because it's not the hardest game in the world anymore, with Chelsea facing Real Madrid next week.
"N'Golo Kante was brilliant against Liverpool. You wouldn't have realised he was out for so long, would you? His return is like a new signing for Chelsea. I'm not sure they'll play him against Wolves this week - they could save him for Real Madrid.
"Chelsea are creating chances but haven't been able to score goals. Sooner or later, they're going to hit the target. I don't think they'll go another game without scoring a goal, and I think they'll win this game."
Paul Merson's prediction: Wolves 0-2 Chelsea
Merson's call for a Chelsea win has not been backed by Chris Sutton. The former Chelsea man has criticised the decision-making at the club and has highlighted the continued issues in-front of goal. "What a strange decision by Chelsea to bring back Frank Lampard, who was sacked by the club in January 2021, as manager until the end of the season," he told BBC Sport.
"As I have said many times about some of the Blues' decisions in recent months, it feels like they are making it up as they go along.
"Good luck to Frank, who had a difficult time at Everton before leaving at the start of this year. I actually thought he did pretty well in his first spell at Chelsea but it seems so odd to go back to him now.
"What happens if they do well under him in the Champions League and in their remaining league games? In many ways, this has complicated things.
"Who knows which way Lampard will go in terms of team selection in this games, or even what formation he will use? Because of that, it's hard to make a prediction here, other than that I can't see there being many goals."
Chris Sutton's prediction: Wolves 1-1 Chelsea
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