Chelsea return to Premier League action on Wednesday night, as Frank Lampard looks to ensure that the Blues don't make it five defeats from five under his tenure.

The west London outfit were treated to a weekend off due to Manchester United's involvement in the FA Cup final, although last week's 2-0 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid will still be fresh in Lampard's thinking ahead of this evening's game against Brentford.

If the former Everton boss wants to turn his fortunes around at Stamford Bridge, he must consider dropping Marc Cucurella, as the Spaniard has been a liability at the back since joining from Brighton last summer.

Should Chelsea drop Cucurella vs Brentford?

Lampard was forced to select the former Getafe man in the game against Real Madrid following Ben Chilwell's suspension, but now that the England international is available for selection, he should surely get the nod to start on the left side of Chelsea's defence.

Cucurella, who earns £175k-per-week, showed in both games against Madrid that he cannot be considered a reliable defender, as he was caught out of position for Chilwell's red card at the Santiago Bernabeu before he left Trevoh Chalobah completely exposed against Rodrygo at Stamford Bridge.

Jamie O'Hara, who works as a pundit on talkSPORT, labelled the 24-year-old a "disgrace" after his performance in Madrid, while BBC Sport contributor Raj Chohan also criticised him for his performance in the return leg.

He said: "Cucurella’s aggression is such an issue. Always mistiming his jumps out of the back 3. And doesn’t have the recovery pace to get back into position when it gets played around him. Leaves the gap for Rodrygo to run into there. Shocking."

Chelsea spent £63m to bring the Spanish defender to Stamford Bridge, but he has definitely not justified his price tag thus far, averaging a disappointing 6.65 rating from WhoScored which ranks him as the joint 14th-best performer in Lampard's squad.

Despite often featuring as a centre-back as well as a left-back, the summer signing fails to rank in the top six Chelsea players for interceptions or clearances per game, while he is the second-most dribbled past player at Stamford Bridge, which emphasises why he has established himself as a defensive liability.

Brentford may be struggling for form at the moment, but they are still ahead of Chelsea in the table and will cause real problems with the dangerous attacking duo of Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbuemo at Stamford Bridge, so Lampard must ensure that his best defenders are on the pitch tonight.

Therefore, Cucurella must be dropped to the bench, with Chilwell returning to the starting side after his recent suspension in the Champions League.