Chelsea revive EPL hope as Abraham, Pulisic shine

Frank Lampard said “sloppy” Chelsea need to be more clinical after they survived a tense finish to climb to third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory at lowly Watford on Saturday.

Lampard’s side bounced back from their midweek League Cup defeat against Manchester United to make it five successive league wins.

The Blues have won eight of their past nine matches in all competitions as Lampard continues to make a good impression in his first season in charge.

His decision to go with unproven youngsters like Tammy Abraham, who opened the scoring, has been a shrewd move, while Christian Pulisic, scorer of the second, is justifying his hefty price tag after starting the season on the bench.

Gerard Deulofeu’s late VAR-awarded penalty came too late to stop Chelsea recording a seventh successive away win in all competitions.

They are just two points behind second-placed Manchester City despite being unable to sign players in the summer due to a transfer ban.

But with a trip to City looming and Champions League ties against Ajax and Valencia on the schedule, November will provide much sterner tests of Chelsea’s progress than this stroll in the autumn chill at Vicarage Road.

“We played really well, our midfield was outstanding, but we just cannot have that sloppy bit near the end,” Lampard said.

“It was a terrible 10 minutes considering how the game had gone. We need to be more clinical, we got a bit sloppy.

“We rely on our goalkeeper for those moments at the end of the game and he did what we needed him to do.”

Despite his frustration at Chelsea’s nervous finish, Lampard praised their impressive start.

“I’m happy with how the players are playing. It’s great to watch,” he said.

Watford could have lost by a much bigger margin and they remain bottom of the table, without a win in the league this season.

Chelsea made a blistering start that reaped an immediate reward when Abraham accelerated on Jorginho’s sublime pin-point pass and lifted a cool finish over Ben Foster.