CHELSEA showed their excellent strength in-depth tonight by beating Sevilla 4-0 in the Champions League.
Frank Lampard chose to rest a number of his key Chelsea players in Spain tonight for two reasons.
Olivier Giroud stated his case for a regular place with an incredible FOUR goals against SevillaCredit: Getty Images – Getty
One was to genuinely give them a rest ahead of a busy set of fixtures, and two was because in Lampard’s words, his fringe players have been training well and knocking on his door.
Well, many of them got their just rewards tonight and many of them really took their chances.
There were good performances from Callum Hudson-Odoi, Emerson Palmieri, and Antonio Rudiger.
But there was one main man who absolutely stole the show and sent a clear and concise message to his manager tonight – that man is Olivier Giroud.
The French international not only scored a perfect hat trick finishing with his left foot, his right foot, and then his head, he even had the cheek to step up to score a late penalty and get Chelsea’s fourth goal of the night as well.
It turned into the Olivier Giroud show for Chelsea, and the striker fully deserves all the plaudits he is getting.
Will he stay or will he leave in January? That is all the speculation at the moment.
But judging from this showing tonight, he not only wants to stay in January, he has staked a claim to be Lampard’s number one striker for the rest of the season and beyond.
Frank Lampard must give the Frenchman a chance in the Premier LeagueCredit: Getty Images – Getty
As well as the goals he was excellent on the ball and with his link up play, showing that he isn’t just about scoring goals.
Lampard would have had to genuinely sit back and take notice tonight, because if Giroud doesn’t continue to get more minutes than he has been getting so far this season, then it seems quite clear that he will be asking to leave the club in January.
He has eyes on the Euros this summer and knows that he needs regular game time until then to keep his match fitness up, and to keep Didier Deschamps selecting him.
He’s earned his place in the French squad, and he has earned his place in the Chelsea squad.
But there is no way after tonight that Lampard will drop Giroud from his starting line-up against Leeds on Saturday in the Premier League, surely?
Well, there is literally not a single thing he could do to prove his worth more than scoring 4 to thrash Sevilla tonight!
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Olivier Giroud grabs four goals for Chelsea in Champions League tie with Sevilla
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
