FRANK LAMPARD will receive a hero's welcome when he steps into the Stamford Bridge dugout for the first time as manager for a competitive game.
The Blues legend will be desperate to give the fans something to cheer about as he seeks to claim his first victory but Leicester have the talent to cause him a few headaches.
After crashing 4-0 at Manchester United in their Premier League opener, Chelsea looked a far better side in the midweek Super Cup clash with Liverpool.
They took the European champions all the way to penalties in a thrilling 2-2 draw and arguably should have won after creating the best chances.
But Tammy Abraham's shoot-out miss gave Liverpool the win, leaving Lampard still searching for that morale-boosting first triumph.
Facing United and Liverpool in his first two matches was always going to be a tough start and the former England midfielder would probably have wanted an easier first home game than a visit from the Foxes.
Many pundits have tipped Brendan Rodgers' side to break into the top six this season and they will pose a big threat on the counter-attack with Jamie Vardy's pace. The striker scored the winner in this fixture last season, when the Foxes won 1-0 at the Bridge, and is 42/20 with Unibet for anytime scorer.
I backed United to beat Chelsea last week because their speedy front three would be too hot to handle for a defence missing David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger.
And Lampard's backline also had severe problems dealing with Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah in midweek once the Brazilian striker came off the bench.
Both teams to score likes look being a good option for Chelsea games this season and it's 10/11 with most firms in this match, which I'll be backing. The Blues should just edge it with home advantage but I wouldn't rule out a draw or even a Leicester win so I'll be staying clear of betting on a result.
The Foxes were shut out in their stalemate with Wolves last weekend after ending the last campaign with two blanks against Manchester City and Chelsea.
But Rodgers isn't the type of manager to defend in deep and frustrate opponents so I'm expecting this to be an open game.
He will fancy Leicester to cause Chelsea some problems and there could be a few goals in this one, with over 2.5 strikes a generous 103/100 with Marathonbet.
The stats suggest that won't come up, with the last four league games between these teams yielding a grand total of four goals, but former bosses Maurizio Sarri, Antonio Conte and Claude Puel were more pragmatic than Lampard and Rodgers.
N'Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic improved Chelsea a lot when they started in midweek after coming off the bench in the Old Trafford thrashing, with the former Dortmund kid earning praise from Lampard.
The American thought he had scored a superb solo goal against Liverpool only for his strike to be ruled out and Pulisic could be a good shout for anytime scorer here at 5/2 with Paddy Power.
William Hill have also boosted the price on Pulisic and Leicester's James Maddison both having at least one shot on target from 7/2 to 4/1. That looks good value, especially as Maddison takes free-kicks for the Foxes.
This English Premier League match between Chelsea and Leicester City will be played on Aug 18, 2019 and kick off at 16:30. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Leicester City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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