Chelsea bounces back with a win as Werner’s woes continue

AP Published 5:15 p.m. ET Dec. 21, 2020

Try as he might, Timo Werner just cannot score for Chelsea at the moment.

Fortunately for the Germany star, his fellow strikers are finding the net.

Tammy Abraham demonstrated the ruthlessness Werner is lacking by netting two late goals as Chelsea beat West Ham 3-0 in the English Premier League on Monday.

It meant the team rebounded from back-to-back losses, at Everton then Wolverhampton, which provided a walk-up call for Chelsea and its title pretensions.

Werner’s scoring woes haven’t ended, though.

Make that nine straight games in all competitions without a goal for Chelsea’s major offseason acquisition, who is playing out on the left wing because of some injuries among the midfielders.

He is still getting chances, however. And failing to convert them.

In the first half, he was set free for a one-on-one chance but shot straight at West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Then late in the game, with the points secured for Chelsea, he smashed a shot against the crossbar from close range.

Werner looked to the skies, as if he was pleading for help.

The majority of Chelsea’s $300 million summer spending spree went on exciting attackers, like Werner, to fire the team to a title run.

The team’s defenders are proving just as lethal in front of goal.

Brazil center back Thiago Silva found space in a crowded penalty area to power home a header at a corner and put Chelsea ahead in the 10th minute.

Nine of Chelsea’s 29 goals have come from defenders — two from Silva, four from fellow center half Kurt Zouma, two from left back Ben Chilwell and another from right back Reece James —with eight of them coming from corners.

Chelsea climbed to fifth place, six points behind first-placed Liverpool, after 14 games.

In the other match on Monday, Burnley beat Wolves 2-1 to climb out of the bottom three.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80