Lampard set for rare rest

Frank Lampard: likely to be rested

Frank Lampard looks likely to miss one of his rare matches for Chelsea as Jose Mourinho shuffles his pack tonight.

Lampard has been left out of only two of his club's matches this season, the Carling Cup ties against West Ham and Newcastle.

And he seems likely to start the quarter-final with Fulham on the substitutes' bench as head coach Mourinho rotates his squad to keep them fresh.

However, captain John Terry, who was rested for last week's Champions League match against Paris St-Germain, looks likely to be in Mourinho's line-up tonight while Alexei Smertin and Glen Johnson could also start.

Chelsea's assistant manager Steve Clarke believes the more matches they play the better it is for Chelsea's blue-chip squad.

Far from worried about burnout later in the season Clarke said: "It's good to have plenty of matches because we can give most players a game and keep them fit and fresh."

Chelsea beat Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage in the Premiership two weeks ago but Clarke said: "I saw that Chris Coleman wasn't happy after their weekend defeat by Blackburn and gave his players a kick up the backside.

"They will be doing everything they can to turn the tables on us tonight but the lads are confident.

"The team which Jose put out against West Ham earlier in the competition was a pointer to how seriously he takes this and we want to keep the momentum going."

With striker Didier Drogba fit again and certain to be involved at some stage, the only player unavailable tonight is injured centre-half Robert Huth.

Eidur Gudjohnsen, who may be rested for Drogba, believes Chelsea will be deadly serious tonight, even treating the game like a Champions League tie.

He said: "The Carling Cup's hardly an annoyance and we showed that when we beat Newcastle in the last round - we really wanted to win that game.

"We're in the competition to win it. There's lots of different opinions on that cup but we take it very seriously. It's no different to the Champions League. The manager's made it clear to everyone in the dressing room that we must beat Fulham. We go into every game to win it and the manager's given that message very clearly.

"We're only two games away from a cup final and any final is always a great day. We've put the 4-1 win behind us and it'll be a different game. We'll be really up for it."

Gudjohnsen insists Chelsea's players are paying little attention to Arsenal's problems ahead of their Premiership clash at Highbury in a fortnight.

He added: "We're not looking at Arsenal too much and just concentrating on our own game. We're always thinking about the next game and won't even think about Arsenal until a few days before the game.

"We're one of the teams to beat because we're top of the league. The profile and stature of Chelsea has really risen in the last year and a half and we're a very big club.

"When clubs come up against us they have extra motivation and are desperate to beat us. We've got so many games this season and there's so much pressure on us to win every game."

  • Fulham v Chelsea, Craven Cottage, tonight, 7.45pm (live on Sky Sports 2)

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