Lampard believes Abraham can answer Chelsea' prayers

Blues face Wolves in an attempt to extract maximum points from fixture

LONDON: Tammy Abraham's promising start to the season has gone a long way towards justifying the decision of Chelsea manager Frank Lampard to place his faith in the young striker.

The challenge now is for the 21-year-old to demonstrate he can maintain that form and show he can provide the attacking focal point that has been missing since Diego Costa left Stamford Bridge.

After a stuttering start in the opening two games of the Premier League season, Abraham has quickly found his feet, scoring twice against Norwich City and Sheffield United.

"Today when you talk about character and enthusiasm to play for this club, Tammy's right up there," Lampard said after Abraham's brace against Norwich. "He shows it every day. He can get better and better."

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More important, from Lampard's point of view, is that the forward maintains his progress in the top-flight after showcasing his potential in the Championship while on loan at Bristol City, Swansea and Aston Villa.

Bigger name strikers have failed to make the grade at Stamford Bridge in recent years with Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain — both established internationals backed by glittering CVs — proving incapable of coming anywhere close to filling the gap left by Costa and their departures last summer came as no surprise.

The two window transfer ban, however, meant they could not be replaced, leaving Abraham and Olivier Giroud to contest the main striker spot with Belgian international Michy Batshuayi apparently a distant third in the pecking order.

The opening weeks of the campaign have confirmed that in Lampard's eyes, the position is Abraham's to lose.

Lampard has made no secret of his intention to develop a pathway from the youth set up into the first team, thus Abraham has been handed the kind of opportunity so often denied to youngsters attempting to break through at a club contesting the Champions League.

He has responded impressively, offering pace and a physical presence up front while his goals have confirmed the qualities that brought 25 goals in 37 league games during Villa's promotion-winning campaign last season.

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As an academy product he, like Mason Mount, has the backing of Blues supporters anxious to see homegrown talent come through.

That support will only last so long and Abraham's abilities will be further scrutinised when he hits the bumps in the road that appear during any campaign, and the next hurdle comes at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Pochettino hopes Spurs find stability

Tottenham host Crystal Palace on Saturday in a game Mauricio Pochettino hopes will herald the start of a more stable period for last season's Champions League finalists.

Pochettino made three signings following Tottenham's European Cup final loss to Liverpool, the first time since January 2018 the manager had been able to add to his squad.

Yet it was the European transfer window, which closed two weeks after the Premier League version that caused the Argentine the most stress, given several of his star players were vulnerable to approaches from overseas.

Yet none departed, and Pochettino is now able to carry on picking the likes of Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose, whose futures had been less than clear throughout the summer.