Three big questions: Chelsea’s Timo Werner and simply scoring

2. Will he have a strike partner without really having a strike partner?

Werner has only played in one preseason game for the Blues, but overall he was used (or at least played) in a similar way to Abraham early in the season. He would constantly drift about to where an extra man was needed, even if that was deep in the midfield or all the way over on the wing.

This is probably how Lampard wants his striker to operate but Abraham struggled on the back end of that style. To play like that, the striker still needs to be in the box when his team needs them. Werner, albeit in a brief preseason cameo, showed he was able to do that well enough.

Strikers tend to play like this when there is no strike partner to play off of. Werner has historically played with a partner but now it appears as though he will be leading the line alone. But there is a way he can lead the line with a partner while also not having one at the same time.

In the preseason match against Brighton, anytime Werner would leave the striker spot, Ruben Loftus-Cheek would step up to fill in. That has been lacking at Chelsea in recent seasons. Either the striker would have to stay in their zone or simply no one would fill in when they left it.

This made Chelsea much harder to defend against and it was less due to Werner himself and more due to Loftus-Cheek doing what needed to be done. Werner (and Abraham) will surely continue to help throughout the pitch which will require players smart enough to recognize that and fill in.

Luckily for Werner, his compatriot Kai Havertz is probably, maybe, eventually joining. If he does, then Havertz will be an ideal player to come out of midfield and fill in when Werner roams. The two could easily form a strike partnership with only one really being a striker.