Chelsea: Four things to look for against Watford as Blues seek rebound

3. How does Tammy Abraham redeem himself?

There may be some recency bias here, but Tammy Abraham’s performance against West Ham was likely his worst in a Chelsea shirt to date. Terrible dribbling, misplaced passes, and a general baby giraffe esque lack of coordination all conspired to leave Chelsea essentially striker less for a large chunk of the match.

It’s been a fairly inauspicious start for Abraham after the coronavirus break. Everyone should keep in mind that he was injured heading into the long layoff, with his last taste of competitive football being the 3-0 loss against Bayern Munich—which, now that it is said, might not actually be a great example of “competitive football.” But he has yet to score, assist, or even look relatively close to doing either since returning, which is starting to border on worrying.

Fortunately, Abraham does have at least some track record of success against Watford. He was man of the match in the reverse fixture way back in early November, scoring the opening goal and providing the assist for the winning goal in a 2-1 victory. If he can turn in a similar performance on Saturday, it could be a massive boost to Chelsea’s chances of retaining their top four spot for the last few weeks of the season. Maybe the sight of those yellow and black shirts will serve as the smelling salts he needs to get back in gear.

It’s clear that Chelsea needs someone other than Christian Pulisic to hit a vein of good form for these last few matches. The good news is that Abraham has nowhere to go but up after the West Ham debacle. Whether it’s as a starter or off the bench, Abraham needs to start making positive contributions right now. Saturday would be a great time to start.