Chelsea put in their biggest performance of the young season, and they did it mostly because of their stellar young players. Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori were all heroes as the Blues won 5-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers, a side that was surprisingly solid last season.
One Chelsea name missing from the list above- their $73 million January signing Christian Pulisic. Yes, the 20-year-old American was not only dropped from the starting 11, he was an unused substitute at the Molineux.
First year boss Frank Lampard praised his young nucleus.
“Delighted for them all but particularly for Fikayo Tomori,” Lampard said.
He has worked so hard from where he started to now it’s superb. Also Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount – we are trying to give chances to the youngsters and they are scoring, taking their chances and showing us why we should keep putting them in the team,”
“They deserve it, they have the quality but they also have a love for the club because they have come through the ranks. It’s not just the youngsters though – players like Willian are having fantastic performances that are just as key.”
The final player praised by Lampard there, Willian, plays Pulisic’s position, and that’s obviously a bad sign for the Hershey, Pennsylvania native. Same goes for Lampard switching his formation to a 3-4-2-1, which creates fewer opportunities for Pulisic. Callum Hudson-Odoi is coming back too, and that means even competition for playing time. Over the international break, Pulisic opened up on his first month at Chelsea. He said all the right things, but it’s clear that he’s off to a rough start.
With seven goals in five games, the 21-year-old Abraham is now the Premier League’s leading scorer, with Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero just behind him.
“I hope this is my season. I have to keep working hard in every training session, every game,” said Abraham.
“Every game I want to prove myself to the gaffer.”
Chelsea moved up to sixth place today as they now have eight points on the season. They’ll host unblemished Liverpool, who currently lead the league by five points, next week.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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