Joe Cole believes Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has finally found his perfect defensive combination after the Blues cantered to a convincing 3-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor.
Chelsea’s defence represented their Achilles’ heel last season, but Lampard invested heavily over the course of the summer in the likes of England full-back Ben Chilwell, the experienced Thiago Silva and new goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The Senegal international kept his fifth consecutive clean sheet on Saturday and was rarely troubled by a Burnley attack which was comprehensively blunted by Silva and his defensive partner Kurt Zouma, who scored his side’s second goal with a bullet header.
Rhys James, meanwhile, enjoyed another reputation enhancing afternoon, linking up superbly with another summer signing Hakim Ziyech. The England international is vying with club captain Cesar Azpilicueta for a regular place in Lampard’s starting XI and Cole believes his former team-mates’ best defensive line-up does not include the experienced Spaniard.
Asked if the back five, including Mendy, which started at Burnley represented Chelsea’s best defence, Cole told BT Sport: ‘I believe so. The stats will back it up. You’ve got your two full-backs who break forward and who are so threatening in the final third.
‘Rhys James is such a threat and so is Chilwell on the other flank. They can turn defence into attack in an instant they’ve got fantastic ability. On the flip-side of it you’ve got Thiago with that experience, defending the front post and recognising danger, making sure that he is the man. Zouma looks comfortable next to him.
Sometimes you can have centre-half pairings with two great playrs that don’t blend. But these two seem to blend. Zouma is going to score goals for you as well.
‘When Thiago Silva went down there with cramp I was fretting because he’s been such an influence since he came in, you’ve just got to keep him on the pitch. Mendy’s been excellent and I just like the fact you’re going in to watch Chelsea games and I’m not panicking.’
