Chelsea boss Frank Lampard defends decision to drop Antonio Rudiger for Liverpool defeat

Frank Lampard insisted he simply had no space for Antonio Rudiger after dropping the defender from his squad against Liverpool.

The Chelsea defender was left out despite being fully fit, as revealed by Sportmail ahead of kick-off, placing a question mark over his future at the club.

Rudiger was also an unused substitute in Chelsea’s season-opening win at Brighton last week.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard insists he did not have space for Antonio Rudiger in his squad

The German defender was left out of the Chelsea squad as the Blues lost to Liverpool

Manager Lampard kept faith with Andreas Christensen and Kurt Zouma against Liverpool, with Rudiger’s place on the bench taken by Fikayo Tomori. Chelsea also have Thiago Silva among their options at centre back.

Rudiger has entered the final two years of his current contract but Chelsea have not yet attempted to renegotiate an extension.

Lampard said: ‘We have five centre halves at the club so I can’t pick three on the bench so that is the way it is. I have to pick the squad via training, situations and the opponent.’

Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen (right) was sent off after fouling Sadio Mane

Rudiger has not featured this season and was an unused substitute at Brighton last week

Chelsea suffered another defensive setback when Christensen was sent off for hauling down two-goal matchwinner Sadio Mane following a pitchside VAR review by referee Paul Tierney. He initially showed the Dane a yellow.

Lampard, who also saw Jorginho have a late penalty saved by Alisson, said: ‘The red card changes the face of the game. It was always going to be difficult after that.’

With Chelsea a man down, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp handed £25million signing Thiago Alcantara a 45-minute, second-half debut following his arrival on Friday. Klopp said: ‘When they went one man down it became the perfect game for him. A player like him can command the rhythm.

‘It was a really good game for both teams. I liked our game a lot. They were the dominant side without goals but then a massive game-changer (the red card) in the last seconds of the first half, which was good for us.’