Football
2019-20 English Premier League
NOR 
2
FT
 CHE
3
ESPN 5y

Abraham double hands Lampard first win

Frank Lampard earned his first win as Chelsea manager after seeing his side overcome Norwich 3-2 on Saturday.

After opening with a heavy defeat at Manchester United and then a home draw with Leicester, Lampard was finally able to celebrate three points with the club's academy players coming to the fore.

Tammy Abraham with two and Mason Mount both found the net on a positive afternoon for Lampard, who named Chelsea's youngest starting XI in 25 years.

It was a topsy-turvy encounter at Carrow Road, with Todd Cantwell and Teemu Pukki both equalising for Norwich, but Abraham's well-taken second settled it in the second half.

Abraham scored his first goal for Chelsea on three minutes with a superbly taken half volley from Cesar Azpilicueta's cross before Cantwell equalised just over two minutes later. Mount's second in two matches on 17 minutes put Chelsea back in front before Pukki netted his fifth of the season to equalise again.

Lampard celebrated with Abraham on the touchline early on following a chaotic start to the match. Abraham slammed in a fine opener and immediately ran to his boss but parity lasted just 156 seconds, Cantwell slotting in from close range from Teemu Pukki's cross.

Christian Pulisic then found Mount, who scored in the 1-1 draw with Leicester last week, and he stepped inside brilliantly to smash the ball home.

As Chelsea found their stride, Tim Krul's strong hand pushed Andreas Christensen's header over the bar midway through the first half.

But Lampard's suspect defence was again breached on the half hour, Pukki evading a slack offside trap and slamming the ball under Kepa Arrizabalaga for his fifth goal of the season.

Chelsea probed and pushed in the second half and were eventually rewarded when Abraham cut inside his marker and planted a firm shot past Krul to win it with 20 minutes to go.

The visitors had a goal disallowed by the Video Assistant Referee when it was ruled Olivier Giroud had barged into Krul before Kurt Zouma tapped in and there was still time for another scare as Ben Godfrey hit the bar with a header from a corner, but Chelsea held on.

Abraham became the youngest player to score twice in a Premier League fixture for Chelsea since 1998.

"It is something I have always dreamed about doing, to score for my childhood club, to get into the first team and to start scoring goals," he said. "I am just happy I can help my team."

The win was a welcome relief for Lampard, who said: "Our performances haven't given us what we deserved so far -- but today it did.

"It was a tough test and Norwich will get a lot of points here because they are a good side. The two goals we gave away I didn't like but there were lots of good elements to our play and I'm really pleased.

"I'm particularly pleased for Tammy and he scored two good goals and the winning goal but I want to talk about all the players today as we controlled the game on a hot day."

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

^ Back to Top ^