Abraham’s hat-trick takes heat off Lampard as Chelsea advance in FA Cup
LONDON: Tammy Abraham eased the pressure on under-fire Frank Lampard as the Chelsea striker’s hat-trick sealed a 3-1 win against Luton in the FA Cup fourth round yesterday. In just his second season in charge at Chelsea, Lampard is fighting to avoid the sack after a wretched run in the Premier League.
An embarrassing FA Cup exit against Championship opposition would have pushed Lampard closer to the axe, but Abraham’s clinical display gave his manager some muchneeded breathing space. Abraham scored twice in the first half before Jordan Clark got one back for Luton after yet another blunder from Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Luton gave Lampard some nervous moments after that, before Abraham finally sent Chelsea through to a last 16 tie at second tier Barnsley. Lampard will know that Chelsea, who were FA Cup runners-up last season, are still a long way from the finished article.
One of his biggest headaches has been the poor form of Timo Werner and there was more bad news for the Germany striker as he missed a late penalty. After notoriously demanding Blues owner Roman Abramovich bankrolled a £200 million spending spree in the close-season, Lampard was expected to mount a title challenge.
But a dismal run of five defeats in their last eight Premier League games has left Chelsea languishing in ninth place. Amid talk that Lampard will be sacked if Chelsea don’t finish in the top four or fall completely out of contention, former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel and ex-Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri have been linked with his job.
Clever Abraham
Lampard insisted this week that he is a “fighter” capable of dragging Chelsea back into contention for the Champions League places. But as snow blanketed west London, leaving the Stamford Bridge pitch with a white dusting at kick-off, the potentially treacherous conditions must have alarmed Lampard, who made seven changes from the midweek defeat at Leicester
Standing huddled in a thick winter coat and hat on the touchline, Lampard’s fears were initially assuaged as Chelsea made the perfect start. Abraham was denied by Luton keeper Simon Sluga and Kurt Zouma ahead over before Chelsea scored in the 11th minute. A quick throw caught Luton napping, with Nathan Jones’ side complaining that two balls were briefly on the pitch at the same time.
Chelsea took advantage of Luton’s loss of concentration and Werner’s deflected cross reached Abraham, who slotted a composed low finish into the far corner from 10 yards.
Abraham’s movement was too clever for Luton and the striker netted again six minutes later. Reece James hooked a cross into the Luton area and Abraham got in front of his marker to power an unstoppable header over Sluga for his 10th goal of the season. Luton were gifted a lifeline in the 30th minute when James Bree crossed towards Clark and his scuffed shot crept past Kepa’s woeful attempted save.
Kepa’s howler sparked a prolonged period where Chelsea’s anxiety returned and their momentum disappeared. Christian Pulisic, stretching to meet James’ cross, was denied by Sluga early in the second half. Yet Lampard’s men remained nervous and Kepa had to make a good save to keep out Harry Cornick’s shot after Luton carved open the Blues defense.
Fortunately for Lampard, his decision to send on Callum Hudson-Odoi proved decisive. Hudson-Odoi surged away down left, played a one-two with Billy Gilmour and crossed low for Abraham to complete his treble from a yard out in the 74th minute. Werner had a chance to score just his second goal in 16 games when he was tripped by Clark, but his dreadful spell continued as his tame penalty was saved by Sluga.
Man City survive
Manchester City were given a huge FA Cup scare by fourth-tier Cheltenham before a late blitz gave them a 3-1 win on Saturday after Southampton dumped holders Arsenal out of the competition. Six-time winners City were minutes away from exiting at the fourth-round stage before goals from Phil Foden, Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres broke the hearts of the brave League Two side. City boss Pep Guardiola made 10 changes for the trip to the southwest of England but his side was still packed with internationals.
The home team — 72 places below City in the football pyramid-produced a stirring defensive display but also sporadically threatened at the other end of the pitch. Jesus hit the post shortly after the restart as City upped the tempo following a goalless first half but it was the home team who broke the deadlock.
The visitors failed to deal with the outstanding
Ben Tozer’s long throw and Alfie May fired in from close range just before the hour mark. Guardiola threw on Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo in a desperate bid to find a way back into the game and was rewarded in the 81st minute when Foden volleyed in Cancelo’s cross. Three minutes later Jesus made amends for his earlier miss and Torres made it 3-1 with the final kick of the game, turning in Gundogan’s low cross.
Arsenal out
Earlier, Arsenal, who have won the competition a record 14 times, went down 1-0 at Southampton courtesy of a Gabriel own goal. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta made seven changes from his team’s 3-0 league win against Newcastle on Monday, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and midfielder Emile Smith Rowe both absent.
Southampton, FA Cup winners in 1976, earned a well-deserved lead in the 24th minute when Kyle Walker-Peters’ ball across the sixyard area was inadvertently turned in by Gabriel. The visitors went close to an equalizer through Eddie Nketiah’s deflected shot but were forced to leave empty-handed.
West Ham, who will face either Manchester or Liverpool in the next round, crushed thirdtier Doncaster 4-0 despite multiple changes from manager David Moyes while fellow Premier League sides Brighton and Sheffield United also progressed.
Pablo Fornals gave impressive West Ham an early lead at home to Doncaster as they dominated the League One side from the kick-off. Andriy Yarmolenko doubled the lead before a second-half own goal from Andy Butler and a late strike from debutant Oladapo Afolayan.
Goals from Yves Bissouma and Steven Alzate were enough to seal a 2-1 win for Brighton against League One Blackpool. Chris Basham and Billy Sharp scored for Premier League strugglers Sheffield United against League One opponents Plymouth. Elsewhere, Swansea thumped fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest 5-1, while Bristol City beat Millwall 3-0. Barnsley beat Championship leaders Norwich 1-0. — AFP