Blues ease into the next round
FA CUP: ABRAHAM HAT-TRICK EASES PRESSURE ON LAMPARD
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 much-needed 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.
But he 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, but his team made the perfect start in the 11th minute when Abram slotted a low, composed finish into the net six minutes later.
He killed the game off with his third in the 74th minute. –