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Three big questions: Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and competition

By Travis Tyler

WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori of Chelsea celebrate following their sides victory in the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea FC at Molineux on September 14, 2019 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori of Chelsea celebrate following their sides victory in the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea FC at Molineux on September 14, 2019 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 07: Tammy Abraham of Chelsea celebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s third goal during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Chelsea FC at Selhurst Park on July 07, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/Pool via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 07: Tammy Abraham of Chelsea celebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s third goal during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Chelsea FC at Selhurst Park on July 07, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/Pool via Getty Images) /

3. Can he and Timo Werner play together?

As already mentioned, it initially seemed as though Werner was joining to play with Abraham instead of over him. The form of Abraham, Giroud, and even Pulisic muddled that picture but it doesn’t mean it went away entirely.

Lampard has mostly used 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 this season, both being single striker formations. He also used 4-2-3-1 which, on paper, is a single striker formation but anyone in the band of three can act similar to a striker to blur that line. That is how it was and is expected Werner could play with Abraham, though it could also take on a 4-diamond-2 or old school 4-4-2 shape as well.

Lampard would not have to look far for inspiration as to how this could work. Some of Chelsea’s most dominant performances when Lampard was a player came when Drogba and Nicolas Anelka lined up together. Anelka played a sort of winger role similar to what could be expected of Werner while Drogba stayed more central. The Blues were at their most potent with that combination.

The main downside of doing this is another player will have to drop to make way. Werner generally likes to play more towards the left, so as a “winger” that could be Pulisic unless Pulisic shifts to the right to play as a more traditional type of winger.

It could mean a midfielder, but that would require the remaining two midfielders to at least pair up somewhat defensively so Chelsea is not overly exposed. On the current roster, that would almost mean some combination of Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, or Billy Gilmour. The remaining midfielders would need to play higher up on the “wings”.

Or Lampard could throw a true curveball and keep the back three, but that again cuts the wings or the center of midfield short in some way. He could vary these ideas game to game but it would require all his players to remain very tactically flexible throughout the year.

Playing Abraham and Werner together is very much doable, it will just be tricky to pull off unless the roster shifts more than is expected.

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What questions do you think need to be asked about Tammy Abraham? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!

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