Olivier Giroud has gone down the pecking order since Tammy Abraham’s meteoritical rise. Abraham’s injury meant one of Michy Batshuayi or Olivier Giroud to start the game against West Ham. Giroud got the nod ahead of Michy.
The Frenchman was given the responsibility to lead the Chelsea but he failed to make any impact. It was the Frenchman’s second league start of the season. He remained goalless after his failure against the Hammers.
The Frenchman had very little to do this season as his playing time has been limited by the rise of the England youngster. Tammy Abraham scored ten goals in 13 Premier League games in his debut season for Chelsea. Lampard‘s methods do not go well with the playing style of the French striker. Subsequently, he fell behind Michy Batshuayi and it looks difficult for him to go up the pecking order after his poor performance against West Ham.
Speaking after the 1-0 defeat to the Hammers, Lampard hinted that Christian Pulisic could be an option to start as a striker or a false nine for the Blues, which is a cause of concern for the French striker.
The American youngster has been impressive since joining from Borussia Dortmund. He too saw limited minutes at the beginning of the season. But his recent performance made him a permanent starter. The American youngster has already scored five goals and assisted two in 11 League games.
And Lampard hinted that the 21-year-old could become another striker option from now on.
“We’ll see,” Lampard said after Saturday’s defeat to West Ham.
“He’s got an ability to run behind the line and to be sharp in central areas, which will naturally get him more goals.
“But I’m not going to say right now that’s the solution. We’ll see going forward.”
Meanwhile, Lampard defended Giroud’s performance on Saturday, as he insisted that it was a tough ask for him to be thrown in against the Hammers.
“It was a difficult game for him,” he said. “He didn’t get enough of the ball and then the couple of chances he had didn’t go in for him.
”It was a tough match for him but he wasn’t the only one who came into the team and the performance was slightly off it. It was not the easiest game.”
“We train hard. Some players, with the nature of how squads are in the modern game, we have to train hard to be at a level to come in. I wouldn’t want to point it to match fitness.”
“Michy has had a lot of performances to come on lately and has made a difference in certain games but it was just a choice for this game.”
