Chelsea have reportedly set aside £70million to sign Lazio star Sergej Milinkovic-Savic if their transfer ban is overturned.

The Blues will have their appeal heard by the Court of Arbitration on November 20 to learn whether their two-window ban is overturned before January.

And if it is Frank Lampard is ready to waste no time in opening Roman Abramovich’s cheque book to bolster his squad.

Having been banned from signing players in the summer, the Blues will have cash to burn when handed the opportunity.

According to the Mirror, another midfielder is at the top of the priority list and Milinkovic-Savic remains on the shortlist.

Manchester United were heavily linked for the 24-year-old in the summer but failed to get a deal over the line.

And Chelsea are ready to join the race have already sent scouts to watch him in Serie A this season.

Lampard wants competition in midfield despite the emergence of Mason Mount in the first team.

Reece James is fast making waves in Chelsea first team especially how he stepped in for Cesar Azpilicueta in the his first Premier League match for the Blues

The 19-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Wigan Athletic in the Championship was starting in a Premier League game for the first time, relegating Azpilicueta to the bench.

The 30-year-old right back is Chelsea captain. He had started each of the club’s last 73 Premier League games, a run dating back to December 2, 2017.

In front of 40,000 at Stamford Bridge, he had to look after Wilfried Zaha, the dribbling king of south London. In the opening 20 minutes, Zaha touched the ball twice.

In the opening 30, seven touches. James limited the Palace man from doing what he likes to do.

What also stood out was James’s positioning off the ball. He found space on that right wing by hugging the touchline and shifted into attack mode seamlessly.

Chelsea fans, reacting to the performance of the teenager, took to the social media to express their excitment and surprise at how James tamed wing wizard Zaha in the match.

Second-half goals from Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic earned Chelsea a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace to move them up to third place in the table.

Chelsea dominated the first half, with the lively Pulisic denied by Vicente Guaita, while Willian’s effort on the stroke of half-time was brilliantly blocked by former team-mate Gary Cahill.

The deadlock was broken on 52 minutes, Willian flicking the ball to Abraham, who beat Guaita for his 10th goal of the season, level with Jamie Vardy.

James Tomkins headed Palace’s best chance wide before Pulisic nodded in from close range with 11 minutes remaining for his first goal at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s sixth consecutive victory was celebrated by the London club’s stars on Twitter.

Mason Mount@masonmount_10
6 prem wins on the bounce! Great way to go into the International break! 💙 #CFC

Christian Pulisic@cpulisic_10
Boys are on 🔥 @ChelseaFC

Billy Gilmour@billygilmourrr
3pts and more minutes, onto international duty now⚽️ #LestWeForget

kepa Arrizabalaga@kepa_46
3 more points and clean sheet!!
Keep pushing @chelseafc

Mateo Kovačić@Mateo_Kova23

prideoflondon does it again. 6⃣ in a row and counting. #premierleague

@ChelseaFC💪💙

Fikayo Tomori@fikayotomori_
+3✅. Clean sheet✅.

Reece James@reecejames_24
Another W, another clean sheet🔥🙏🏽 Thanks for the support💙 #CFC #KTBFFH

Emerson Palmieri@emersonpalmieri
An important win today, keeping a clean sheet. Thanks for all the support at the Bridge. Come on Chelsea! 💪🏽🔵 #CFC #EP33

Tammy Abraham@tammyabraham
Job done. 3points 💙🔥
@ChelseaFC

Ruben Loftus-Cheek@rubey_lcheek
Enjoyed the win today 🔵 Our form continues. I can’t wait to play in this team with incredible potential 👏🏾 keep this going boys! #CFC

Photo Credit: premierleague.com

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has expressed his disappointment over the manner Chelsea came all-out in their 2-0 victory over his team as he had expected that the Blues would “be a bit jaded or not paying to their full potential”.

Two second half goals by Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic were all that Chelsea needed to defeat palace.

The former Three Lions manager deployed a tried and tested 4-5-1 formation on his 300th outing as a Premier League manager.

And his team initially displayed the same manner of determined defending that helped them to a win at Manchester United in August and a recent point at Arsenal.

But unlike in their successes at Old Trafford and the Emirates, Palace were unable to offer any attacking threat going forward.

The visitors eventually crumbled under the ceaseless attacks by Chelsea.

“I don’t need to reproach the team at all,” Hodgson said.

“One can always hope that after a Champions League game you meet an opponent who might be a bit jaded or not paying to their full potential and their highest level but that certainly wasn’t the case.

“I thought that we weathered the early storm well. I thought the shape of the team and that the players worked hard to control an opponent in very good form. I have no criticism of them in any shape of form. Eventually, they scored a good goal. A good one-two to get them 1-0 up.

“At that stage we couldn’t turn around and say that was lucky on their part or that they hadn’t worked hard to deserve it. Their second goal was a little bit unfortunate for us. We were starting to grow into the game.

“We were starting to look a little bit more likely ourselves. The shot was blocked and then looped up in the air kindly for Pulisic to score the second goal and from then on it was difficult for us to get back into it.

“But we didn’t give up we kept playing right to the end and this is an unfortunate spell we find ourselves in playing against the top teams in the land. As I said when we lost to Man City and Leicester, I can’t sit here and say I am honestly disappointed with our performance.”

Photo Credit: premierleague.com