The Sky Blues will be thrown in at the deep end when they take on Arsenal in their opening top-flight match on Friday. However, Lampard’s attacking options could receive a significant lift before the north London encounter.
Coventry are back in the English top division for the first time in a quarter of a century following their second-tier title win last season. Yet they face what appears to be their most demanding fixture on paper right away, with a visit to the Emirates Stadium upcoming.
Lampard has brought in several fresh and familiar signings during the summer transfer window. Frank Onyeka, Gus Hamer and Carl Rushworth have come back to the club, while Caleb Yirenkyi, Loum Tchaouna and Aurele Amenda have been recruited. Taiwo Awoniyi’s £9million switch from Nottingham Forest was also confirmed on Monday.
So Coventry Live examines what Lampard’s ideal forward line could look like for the Arsenal encounter, featuring two recent signings and the potential acquisition of Chelsea wideman Mykhailo Mudryk.
To start, it appears almost certain that newcomer Tchaouna will be given the starting role on the right flank for the trip to the capital. The pacey Frenchman was captured for a then club-record £20m from Burnley in July. This fee was subsequently eclipsed by the £23m paid to FC Nordsjælland for Yirenkyi.
Tchaouna, who committed to a five-year contract at the Coventry Building Society Arena, made his home bow in a friendly against Espanyol and found the net in Coventry’s concluding pre-season workout against Monaco last week.
In both those matches, he began on the right side and it is anticipated he will do so again when facing the Gunners. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto can provide cover in that position.
Through the middle, Awoniyi could make his Sky Blues bow. The Nigerian goal scorer was secured for an initial £9m, having said his farewells to his former colleagues on Sunday. During the interval of Forest’s 2-0 pre-season victory over Brest, Awoniyi emerged onto the pitch to bid goodbye. His team-mates created a guard of honour and tossed him aloft to celebrate his stint at the club.
When his transfer was announced, he expressed enthusiasm about the upcoming season and eagerness to get started, mentioned looking forward to working with his new team-mates, and noted he had observed their impressive performance last season as they earned promotion from the Championship and was excited to join them for the new campaign.
Awoniyi can now pull on the Coventry shirt and attempt to break down Arsenal’s rearguard. Ellis Simms also has a strong chance of beginning the match instead of Awoniyi, and Brandon Thomas-Asante is capable of leading the line from the substitutes’ bench, with Haji Wright still an injury concern.
Lampard has both Thomas-Asante and Ephron Mason-Clark available as left-sided wide men, while Raphael Borges Rodrigues can also be deployed from the bench. Nevertheless, a high-profile signing could materialise.
Chelsea acquired Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023 for an initial fee of £62m, but in November 2024, he returned a positive test for low levels of meldonium, a banned substance.
Following an inquiry, the Football Association imposed a four-year suspension in 2025, ruling him out of competition until December 2028. However, Mudryk challenged the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, maintaining he never deliberately consumed any prohibited substance.
On July 31, 2026, the FA and World Anti-Doping Agency agreed to settle the case. WADA revised its scientific thresholds for meldonium, meaning the quantity detected in Mudryk’s sample would no longer constitute a violation under current regulations.
Mudryk’s suspension therefore concluded in July and it has emerged that he is currently seeking a temporary move away from Chelsea. Coventry could be the ideal destination. The Ukrainian is said to wish to remain in the Premier League and, naturally, Coventry manager Lampard is a Chelsea legend and former manager.
His ties to the club run deep and he even managed the 25-year-old during his brief period as interim boss at Stamford Bridge in 2023.
Should Coventry lodge a bid for Mudryk, he could become their starting left-winger against the Gunners, though this transfer would carry considerable risk given he has been inactive for 20 months.
Coventry City’s ideal attack for the Arsenal match: Tchaouna (RW), Awoniyi (ST), Mudryk (LW)