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Leicester rely too much on Vardy while Chelsea lean heavily on Abraham. Both clubs need to . . .
FRANK LAMPARD has been ordered by his wife Christine to cut the football chat during the winter break but solving Chelsea’s puzzle in attack will never be far from his mind.
His centre forward, Tammy Abraham, is heading for a holiday in Dubai after he was forced to play through the pain barrier here. While there, he may bump into Jamie Vardy, who could also do with a rest after suffering two muscle injuries in a little more than a month.
Between them, Vardy and Abraham have played 3,938 minutes of Premier League football this season. By contrast, the back- up strikers — Kelechi Iheanacho at Leicester, Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud at Chelsea — have spent a combined total of 720 minutes on the pitch.
Chelsea are so reliant on Abraham that last week Lampard appeared frustrated at their inability to sign a striker in January — even though they can call on World Cup winner Giroud along with Batshuayi, who has 16 goals in 29 games for Belgium. Hardly no-hopers.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers praises Iheanacho to the skies, and the Nigerian has eight goals in 14 appearances, including two in two before this game.
Yet, like Abraham, Vardy (right) will always start if he is remotely fit. Though it is easy to see why their managers would lean on them — 17 goals in all competitions for Vardy, 16 for Abraham — it is a difficult balancing act.
Vardy will be 34 next year while this is Abraham’s first full season playing up front for an elite club, which is a mental challenge as much as a physical one. By placing a little more trust in their squads, Lampard and Rodgers would surely be giving their main men a better chance of finishing the season strongly.
Vardy was back in action less than a week after tweaking a glute muscle in the 4-1 win over West Ham, and he was not moving freely when he was replaced by Iheanacho with 10 minutes to go here. Abraham, who damaged his ankle against Arsenal 11 days before this game, had a pain-killing injection to help him through this game. Is it any wonder that neither man was at his best? Abraham even admitted he would have relished some help in the form of Edinson Cavani joining the club.
‘My ankle is still painful but sometimes you have to play through pain,’ said Abraham. ‘It is just about getting out there and helping the team. The (painkiller) started to wear off in the second half but I will take this break to recover. Mentally and physically we all need the break.
‘The players we were talking about coming, like Cavani and other top- class strikers, have been in the game for many years. It would have been nice if he had come.
‘Cavani would have been someone I could have learned from and stolen his ideas to add to my own. It didn’t happen though and for me it gives me that extra push and desire to claim my position and be as best as I can.’
Lampard will have to adjust quickly after the break. They have games against Manchester United on February 17 and Spurs on February 22, before taking on Bayern Munich in the Champions League three days later, while they will also face Liverpool or Shrewsbury in the FA Cup fifth round on
March 3. Leicester have no European commitments this season but unless their form totally disintegrates, they will next term. And another proven forward, perhaps Danny Ings from Southampton, will be needed to ease the load on Vardy.
‘We have strength in depth but going forward we need more quality,’ said Rodgers, who also knows that wealthier clubs will come for some of his best players, with Manchester United interested in James Maddison and Ben Chilwell a target for Chelsea.
‘ For us to have achieved what we have with the group we have is remarkable. We’re not settling for that: we want to finish off the final 13 games as strong as we can.’
His team should have won after goals from Harvey Barnes and Chilwell cancelled out Antonio Rudiger’s opener, but poor marking at a set piece allowed Rudiger to equalise before Barnes missed a glorious late chance to seal it.
Despite the small tweaks that are required, both managers can reflect on a positive six months, with the potential for a top-four finish and trophies — though Lampard will be trying his best to think of other things. He added: ‘This job is consuming and I’ve probably given my wife too much chat about football when we’ve been having dinner and stuff. Sometimes I get told that so I’ll try to refrain for a few days and then get back to work.’