The idea of hypothetical combined XI's was given an unusual twist by Frank Lampard on Tuesday morning, as he was asked to pick a team made up of players from Chelsea's title winning sides of 2005 and 2017.
Joined by former Chelsea and Ireland midfielder Andy Townsend, and Owen Hargreaves for the Premier League's 'Match Day Live', Lampard picked a team that would strike fear into most sides in Europe, despite not showing any love to Damien Duff.
Here is the combined XI in full:
Cech; Azpilicueta, Terry, Carvalho, Gallas; Kante, Makelele, Robben, Lampard, Hazard; Costa.
The most notable decision was up front, where Lampard opted for Diego Costa ahead of Didier Drogba, but he explained that his decisions were made purely on a season vs season judgement, and Costa's 2017 was better than Drogba's 2005. Lampard claimed that if it was over a longer period of time, it would be Drogba all day.
If you ask me for the best players in teams over a period of time, Didier Drogba's in there every day of the week.
The first year Chelsea were successful, but as years went by, Didier always produced. He improved he always produced in the big games. Costa has been fantastic this year, if we're directly looking at that first year, Didier played some games, Eidur Gudjohnsen played some games, so for the consistency of this season, I'd go with Costa.
Behind Drogba, however, is one of the most dangerous and balanced midfields imaginable, as Lampard chose himself playing in front of a defensive midfield two consisting of Claude Makalele and N'Golo Kante, which is honestly too scary to even think about. On the wings? How about Eden Hazard and Arjen Robben.
Cech over Courtois would have been a close one, as would the decision to leave Marcos Alonso out for William Gallas, but Terry and Carvalho in the middle were certainties despite David Luiz's impressive season.
I’ve chosen a back four because it helped me get the players I wanted to get into the team.
I played with Gallas, Carvalho and Terry in that team, and they were so strong. I didn’t want to change that too much, but I just had to get Azpilicueta in there. I think he’s been brilliant in his seasons at Chelsea. He’s improving all the time, professional, can do that solid right-back job. He’s one of the best in the world.
A fantastic team, is there anyone you feels was harshly omitted?
Apart from Duffer, of course.
