Frank Lampard reveals Olivier Giroud’s response to falling down Chelsea pecking order

Olivier Giroud came off the bench to score for Chelsea against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup (Picture: Getty Images)

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard is delighted with how Olivier Giroud has responded to falling down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge after the arrival of Timo Werner.

The Frenchman had worked his way back into the Chelsea first team in the second half of last season, after coming close to leaving the club in January.

However, the summer has not gone well for the former Arsenal man as Werner was signed from RB Leipzig and he finds himself seemingly behind the German and Abraham again in Lampard’s plans.

Giroud has not risen from the bench in either Premier League match so far as Werner started up front, while he could only come on a substitute in the 6-0 thrashing of Barnsley in the Carabao Cup as Abraham started.

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The manager is thoroughly impressed with the 33-year-old’s attitude, though, hearing him cheer on his teammates from the dugout.

‘With Oli [Giroud], and I keep talking about squad members, when he’s not playing I keep hearing him behind me on the bench shouting for Tammy, encouraging, backing his team-mate, and those things are huge,’ Lampard told the official Chelsea website.

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Abraham opened the scoring in the rout of Barnsley and also linked up brilliantly with new signing Kai Havertz, who scored a hat-trick against the South Yorkshire club.

Lampard is thrilled that the England international has also reacted well to the arrival of Werner and is providing genuine competition to the big-money signing.

‘Tammy’s reaction the other night and the way he played was exactly what I want from Tammy and what we saw last year,’ said Lampard.

Havertz and Abraham have seemingly struck up an impressive relationship (Picture: Getty Images)

‘He showed all his qualities in terms of holding the ball up, being able to run behind, and bringing a real positive energy to the team.

‘It was great to see Tammy in that sort of form. Tammy needs to recognise he’s such a positive player and person when he’s in that kind of form.’

Chelsea look to continue the momentum gained from hammering Barnsley when they take on West Brom in the Premier League on Saturday evening at the Hawthorns.

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