Jase

Scary thing is Willian would have stayed had he agreed to a two-year deal OR the club gave him a three-year deal.

In terms of numbers, yes, but nobody is crying out for Willian's "quality".

Pretty sure Klopp has played those "random Liverpool kids no one ever heard of" in cup games before. Also, it's funny how people have been criticizing Lampard and saying this is a must win game but wants to play an 18-year-old in such a high pressure game. If it doesn't work out well and we lose, people will jump even more on Lampard...

And James plays Fabregas-esque passes? No one said anything about Azpi playing Fabregas-esque passes anyway. The passing % doesn't tell anything as well, because someone's can be higher than another person's if the former only passes to a nearby teammate for example or if one takes more risks than the other.

Azpi might not be as good going forward as James but he gets too much undeserved stick. James is the better crosser but Azpi is the better passer.

And here it is...

Another concern is if James is out injured, then Azpi will have to play 2 games in 3 days next week.

Death. Taxes. Some random injury popping up after a free week under Lampard.

So, we should just ignore the defensive side of the game? Either way, you're still asking a lot of an 18-year-old. Just because he's doing well at youth level right now, it doesn't mean he will be able to make the step up immediately. And not to mention, he just played on Friday and there's the whole team bubble thing going on. At most, he'll be on the bench as a backup.

That's at youth level. You're asking a lot of an 18-year-old to come in and produce in a must win game.

Hey, maybe we won't be so predictable going forward for a while...

By the way, to those who mentioned Marco Rose as a potential replacement for Lampard, his Gladbach side are on a 6-game winless run...

So, it doesn't seem like an injury caused by the free week. Point on hold...for now.

Also from the article above... https://theathletic.com/news/chelsea-reece-james-injury-latest/IZlLqIMxHRMy Hakim Ziyech hasn’t featured since suffering a hamstring injury against Leeds and The Athletic understands the West Ham game is expected to come too soon for him to feature. Ziyech joined in training with the main group for the first time on Friday, but the fixture at Arsenal on Boxing Day is looking more likely for him to make a comeback. There is far more confidence, however, over Callum Hudson-Odoi, who has also been missing since injuring a hamstring in training a fortnight ago. The England winger also joined in Friday’s training session and is further advanced in his return to full fitness. Given the busy festive schedule, however, he will probably not be risked from the start.

It's James... (p.s. the article above is not behind a paywall)

Worth remembering that Lampard wanted Willian to stay...

There's a Willian OUT thread in one of the Arsenal forums. #justiceforwillian

Can we really laugh at Arsenal? Because it won't be a surprise if we go and give them 3 points next weekend...

Everton have beaten all 5 London clubs this season...

Everton looked a mess a week ago. Now, 3 wins in a row all of a sudden and they're up to 2nd...

Remains to be seen if this is true and if it's another muscle injury but otherwise, this pretty reiterates my point above...

Make of this what you will...

For the record, I have mentioned/pointed out/complained about Werner being wasted out wide since September. Moreover, it's all good while winning but when we weren't, like the last 2 games, some of the problems with Lampard last season reared their ugly head again and he did nothing about them. I wouldn't have been so critical had he tried to change things but nothing worked and we still lost. Problem was, he didn't try to change or do anything different in the last 2 games.

Watch Willian turn into peak Messi on Boxing Day...