Three big questions: Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and competition

2. How will competition with Timo Werner affect him?

When Chelsea signed Timo Werner, Abraham was still seen as the undisputed striker. Even signing a player of Werner’s level, it appeared as though Frank Lampard would find room for both.

Then Giroud’s form kept Abraham out of the side. Christian Pulisic returned from his injury and the Covid break possessed by the ghost of Eden Hazard that actually took shots on goal. Between those two, the notion of Abraham and Werner began to fade and the prospect of a direct competition rose.

On paper, even with Abraham being as good as he is, he cannot start over Werner. The German striker is simply better than the Englishman though both offer different things. That is not to even mention if Giroud keeps his current performance levels.

Abraham was not able to unseat the Frenchman in the back half of the season. He will find Werner to be even more difficult. It will be very important for Abraham to keep his head up and take his chances when they come, because he may not get many redoes if Werner explodes on to the scene or Giroud never fades (or a combination of both).

The English striker may need to adapt his game somewhat to keep himself close to the team sheet. Werner will generally be the type of striker looking for spaces to run into. Giroud will hold up play and get his teammates involved. Abraham often dropped deep to assist in buildup last season, but he struggled to get back into position in the final third. If he can clean that part of his game up, he can offer a third style of striker for Lampard, making him much more likely to play.