Yahoo News Callum Hudson-Odoi continues Chelsea rejuvenation to pose Frank Lampard dilemma ahead of key week
After just a single win in seven games, Frank Lampard could ill-afford any slip-ups in the FA Cup this weekend. While a home victory over League Two Morecambe would never be enough to assuage the doubters, the reverse could easily have been true - a defeat would absolutely have ramped up the pressure on the manager.
Aside from one early scare when Kepa Arrizabalaga was forced to make an athletic save on the goal-line to prevent a wayward cross flying in, there was never any real danger of an upset at Stamford Bridge, and especially not after the opening goal came 18 minutes in.
The architect of that goal, Callum Hudson-Odoi, was the stand-out performer for the Blues in their eventual 4-0 success and he is re-rising to prominence at what might be an opportune moment for himself - and for his manager, as Lampard faces what might be a defining week at the club.
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Four defeats in six in league play have seen Chelsea drop outside the top four, only by three points, but also by five places amid the tightest race for Champions League spots in recent years. They next face a must-win game against relegation-threatened Fulham, before a crunch clash away to top-four rivals Leicester.
Not only might that latter game be a direct influence on who has the confidence and the impetus to hold those top spots, it’s also against one of the managers on the shortlist to potentially replace Lampard, in Brendan Rodgers. The upshot is that the current incumbent of the Stamford Bridge hotseat is likely to choose a lineup for these critical games which is not merely his best XI - if he even knows what that is right now - but a side of the most in-form players and those he feels he can trust.
In the attacking third, the Blues have plenty of options, but fewer guarantees of performances at present.
Christian Pulisic can look world-class from half-to-half, but has also drifted out of games. Hakim Ziyech looks set to be a regular starter, but is still finding top fitness levels after injury. Kai Havertz and Timo Werner are woefully short of top form despite goals here, while Mason Mount has been employed almost exclusively in central midfield this season- which leaves Hudson-Odoi as both the forward option currently on the rise and showing end product, as well as one who already knows everything the manager wants of him.
Having teed up the first goal for Chelsea, a low strike from Mount, he was thereafter the most busy, inventive, dangerous-looking and up-tempo player on the pitch, always available as an out-ball, keen to take on his man at every opportunity and looking full of confidence on the ball.
Hudson-Odoi’s movement and acceleration was a big factor in a game which predictably saw the Premier League side dominate, but with a rather slow pace of the game played all-too-often in front of the massed ranks of Morecambe defenders.
It was he who scored the killer third goal, too, with a clever diagonal run getting him behind the back line and finishing well - meaning strikes in successive games after the consolation against Man City and four goals or assists in as many games to his name since Boxing Day.
It’s not just on the technical side where Hudson-Odoi has impressed. Tactically he is well-versed in Chelsea’s play, of course, and here showed his versatility by switching flanks as needed. But he also found the spaces to come infield, tracked back well when required and, of course, found that momentary gap to sprint through and score. Lampard will consider all of this when it comes to finding a way through in the derby against Fulham and the top-four clash with the Foxes.
It has been a long road back to this point for 20-year-old Hudson-Odoi, in truth.
After his breakout year or so in the side, long-term injuries and a long-running contract negotiation seemed to take more headlines than his performances did, and even this season his most regular involvement had come in the routine Champions League group rather than the bread-and-butter regular XI of Premier League games.
That has changed in recent weeks, being called-upon in important games and finding a measure of end product in each, even if he couldn’t tilt the balance of the result in Chelsea’s favour. Here he did both, giving the team a respite from bad scorelines and pushing his own claims for a starting berth.
Lampard might have staked his long-term prospects of winning titles on big-money Bundesliga signings, but if he’s to still be around at the end of the season to try and land those prizes, it might be an attacker forged a lot closer to home who he needs most in the next few days.
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