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Chelsea: Three lessons from a return to winning ways with West Ham

By Vansh Ambashta

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 21: Mason Mount of Chelsea battles for possession with Mark Noble of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on December 21, 2020 in London, England. The match will be played without fans, behind closed doors as a Covid-19 precaution. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 21: Mason Mount of Chelsea battles for possession with Mark Noble of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on December 21, 2020 in London, England. The match will be played without fans, behind closed doors as a Covid-19 precaution. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 21: Tammy Abraham of Chelsea celebrates after scoring their team’s second goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on December 21, 2020 in London, England. The match will be played without fans, behind closed doors as a Covid-19 precaution. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 21: Tammy Abraham of Chelsea celebrates after scoring their team’s second goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on December 21, 2020 in London, England. The match will be played without fans, behind closed doors as a Covid-19 precaution. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /

The Blues returned to winning ways in the Premier League and against West Ham with a 3-0 victory. What did Chelsea learn from the match?

Chelsea managed to take all three points against West Ham in the last game before Christmas. While the scoreline suggests that Chelsea trashed West Ham, the actual game was a little more competitive than that. Chelsea held onto their one goal lead through most of the game before Tammy Abraham knocked the life out of the Hammers with a brace towards the end. Here are the lessons learnt from a decent performance by the Blues!

1. Tammy Abraham through the middle works best for everyone

Olivier Giroud is a prolific goal scorer, and perhaps the “best target man” in the world, in the words of Eden Hazard. The Frenchman has rescued the Blues on several occasions and has a knack of scoring in pressure situations. However, his presence means that the Blues have to adjust their tactics to play to his strengths. The idea of bombarding the opposition’s box with crosses throughout the game can only work to a certain extent and it takes out the venom in the attack.

Now, this doesn’t take anything away from Giroud. He is still one of the best forwards in the world and he is the ideal center forward when played to his strengths. However, the project at Chelsea needs its wingers to work in tandem with the strikers.

For wingers like Christian Pulisic and Timo Werner, the frontline needs to be fluid and quick, and this is why Tammy Abraham is the perfect fit for this Chelsea squad. His movement is smooth, and his dribbling and pace are much more suited for Chelsea’s game plan. What is even more impressive is that Tammy has improved his link up play immensely this season and his ability to hold off the ball while others run past their markers is extremely important. Against West Ham, Tammy Abraham was moving around quickly and he just made Werner and Pulisic look better. Tammy Abraham through the middle is the best way to go forward at the moment and Lampard can think of bringing Giroud on as a super sub to spice things up if needed.

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