Frank Lampard says he could be tempted to start Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against his former club Arsenal because he might have a “certain motivation” for playing against them.
Aubameyang spent four years at Arsenal and won the FA Cup with the club in the 2020 before leaving for Barcelona two years later following a fall out with Mikel Arteta.
The 33-year-old has endured a difficult season at Chelsea, signing for his former boss Thomas Tuchel prior to his sacking before being frozen out by Tuchel’s replacement Graham Potter.
Interim boss Lampard opted to bring the striker on at half-time of the 2-0 defeat to Brentford last time out, and says he is in his thoughts to start his first game this year.
“Possibly, because we all think sometimes a player going back to their old club gives a certain motivation,” Lampard said, when asked about whether facing his former club is a factor in whether to play Aubamayeng.
“I haven’t delved into that too much with Auba himself, so I’ll pick that position based on my feeling of how they’ve trained and what the team structure looks like.
“I’ve also got Kai and I’ve got David Fofana. I’m not going to divulge the team but we’ve got options there.”
The striker will face competition for a starting place with Kai Havertz, who is in contention to return to the team following a knee injury.
Chelsea have been dealt another injury blow following the news that Reece James and Mason Mount are likely to miss the rest of the season, however, with Kalidou Koulibaly also possibly out for the rest of the campaign because of a hamstring problem.
