Frank Lampard adamant Tammy Abraham, goal-less in 10 games, is not distracted by Chelsea contract

Frank Lampard has urged Tammy Abraham to remember what made his first half of the season such a success, although he does not believe the striker’s contract situation has impacted his form.

Abraham is the last of Chelsea’s academy graduates still to sign a new long-term contract extension, following the deals for Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Fikayo Tomori, Reece James and Billy Gilmour. There are two years remaining on Abraham’s contract and it is believed Chelsea have the option of extending that by a further 12 months, although they would prefer to negotiate a long-term deal with the 22-year-old.

Abraham remains Chelsea’s top scorer this season with 15 goals despite having netted only once since the turn of the year, against Burnley in January, and has lost his starting place to Olivier Giroud since the resumption.

Having scored against Watford, Giroud will expect to keep his place against Crystal Palace on Tuesday, and, with Timo Werner also joining from RB Leipzig, Abraham is facing more pressure.

“I think on Tammy’s contract, we’re not at a critical level with it and I’ll leave that between him and the club to discuss that side of it,” said Lampard, the head coach. “I don’t think it’s something in his mind now. It certainly shouldn’t be.

“What needs to be in his mind now is these games we have coming up and how much he can give us on the pitch, whether he’s coming on as a substitute or starting.

“He has had a really good season. He hasn’t scored so much in the second half of the season and as a young player it’s always clear that when you have those periods there’s only one way out of it and that’s work and repetition in training and trying to make the most out of every moment you get. I think that’s where Tammy’s at. The contract will hopefully look after itself. It’s between him and the club.

“He just needs to focus on giving us that Tammy that we had earlier in the season, which was giving defenders so much of a problem in games and scoring regularly. It all came from how he was training and working through the week.”

Lampard, who is without injured duo N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic for the trip to Selhurst Park, stressed that he always anticipated that his young players would go through difficult periods.

“Not just Tammy,” he said. “It’s a general rule. We get very excited with young talent, and rightly so. We’ve seen it this season and that’s why I’ve tried to stay pretty grounded when I get asked a lot about the youth, particularly earlier in the season, because I felt it coming. It’s really hard to come into the Premier League, at the level it’s at, and sustain performances or be in the side all the time.

“There’s competition, games are hard. Whether it’s Tammy, whether it’s Mason, whether it’s Fikayo, whether it’s Reece, they’ve all had periods of real input and playing regularly and periods where it’s maybe not quite so much, in their own different ways.

“That’s something we all have to be a bit calm with from the outside and expect that. The main thing from working behind the scenes is that they understand that and that they will have those little moments and not lose confidence. I’m always there to support them on that. But also they need to continue the work.

“That’s the message for all young players, not just mine. I’ve been there, I know how hard it is to break through, but when you break through it’s possibly harder to sustain it and move on to the different level, which top players do. All these younger players here potentially have it. A lot of it is in their hands at this point.”

The absence of Kante and Kovacic may give Jorginho his first start since football resumed, but Lampard insisted the Italy international had nothing to prove.

“With Jorginho, he does not have to do anything differently,” Lampard said. “He trains well, he shows me that he’s good for the group, on and off the pitch, he’s vice-captain of the club, so it’s nothing different – it’s purely my choice with what I see from the games in front of me, how I want the make up of my midfield to be.

“It sometimes can be affected by the other players in that midfield, where I think we need more defensive attributes in the game. So he doesn’t need to do anything. It’s purely my choice.”