TAM TO SHINE
Chelsea 2 Barcelona 1: Barkley and Abraham fire Lampard’s men to deserved victory over Spain’s champions
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TAMMY ABRAHAM staked his claim for leading Frank Lampard’s attack with his first-half strike in this welcome 2-1 win over the Spanish champions.
How to put together a frontline with no Eden Hazard and no transfers is the biggest task for the Chelsea boss in his first season as a Premier League manager.
2
2
- Chelsea 2: Abraham (34), Barkley (81)
- Barcelona 1: Rakitic (90 + 1)
But at Saitama Stadium 2012 there was evidence that Abraham will be a handful at top-flight level after scoring regularly in the Championship.
He was wanted by Wolves on a permanent deal in January but Lampard will be delighted with him staying.
Abraham’s goal came after Jorginho nicked the ball off Sergio Busquets in dangerous territory, allowing the England Under-21 forward to smartly slip past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and finish in one movement.
Elsewhere, Lampard gave away a few clues to how his team might look come the start of the season.
In terms of formation he looks settled on the 4-2-3-1 that he used at Derby last season.
MOUNT AT No10
That is the system he has used in friendlies out here in Japan, with Jorginho starting both games.
N’Golo Kante fits into the system perfectly, although the setback to his knee injury meant he did not play and headed back to Cobham for more rehab.
They have also tried a diamond and in the second half looked 4-4-2 at times with Mason Mount joining Abraham in attack.
Mount looked favourite to land the No10 role, which is where he started in both games.
Lampard cares about his players’ futures so sent Ethan Ampadu to RB Leipzig on loan to make sure he got game time.
LIVELY PULISIC
He would not have brought Mount back from Derby without giving him enough match-time to develop what he saw last season at Pride Park.
But Ross Barkley put himself into the manager’s thinking by making it 2-0 with a curler from the edge of the area after looking lively when he came on at half-time.
Lamps is not allowed new signings due to Fifa's transfer ban.
But Christian Pulisic was sorted out before the sanctions were imposed and he has shown signs of his quality since arriving after international duty.
The USA forward looked good against Barca and was a threat from the left side of the attack, going on exciting runs and getting shots away.
MORE CHELSEA STORIES
Lamps looks like he has a safe pair of hands with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
There has been no hangover from controversy at Wembley last season when he refused to be substituted.
He was down sharply to stop Rafinha twice in the second half and also denied Carles Perez at the near post.
There was nothing he could do when Ivan Rakitic belted the ball into the top corner in stoppage-time.
But the hard work was done then and the Blues had picked up a welcome win after losing their previous game in the Far East 1-0 to Kawasaki Frontale.
RB Leipzig reveal Ethan Ampadu on season loan from Chelsea
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