TAMMY ABRAHAM EASED the pressure on under-fire Frank Lampard as the Chelsea striker’s hat-trick sealed a 3-1 win against Luton Town in the FA Cup fourth round.
In just his second season in charge at Chelsea, Lampard is fighting to avoid the sack after a wretched run in the Premier League.
An embarrassing FA Cup exit against Championship opposition would have pushed Lampard closer to the axe, but Abraham’s clinical display gave his manager some much-needed breathing space.
Abraham scored twice in the first half before Jordan Clark got one back for Luton after yet another blunder from Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Luton gave Lampard some nervous moments after that, before Abraham finally sent Chelsea through to a last-16 tie at second tier Barnsley.
Lampard will know that Chelsea, who were FA Cup runners-up last season, are still a long way from the finished article.
One of his biggest headaches has been the poor form of Timo Werner and there was more bad news for the Germany striker as he missed a late penalty.
After notoriously-demanding Blues owner Roman Abramovich bankrolled a £200 million spending spree in the close-season, Lampard was expected to mount a title challenge.
But a dismal run of five defeats in their last eight Premier League games has left Chelsea languishing in ninth place.
Amid talk that Lampard will be sacked if Chelsea don’t finish in the top four or fall completely out of contention, former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel and ex-Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri have been linked with his job.
Interesting move by cowboys, certainly part tactical move by Jerry Jones to gain leverage against Prescott, if talk of him holding out joining up with team until last minute before start of season to get contract sorted are true, while he would have gotten away with that and walked straight into starting spot with last year’s backup I could see him struggle if Dalton has a full training camp and pre season.
Surprised the Patriots didn’t pick him up, especially at that price. Shrewd move by the Cowboys though, gain some leverage on Prescott.
He’ll be better than Prescott at the Cowboys given the chance, and he wont have to wear that god awful Bengals uniform anymore
@Ollie Ryan: the uniform.that looks 100 times better than the brownes uniform ?
Nah but seriously he is a fantastic back up and I agree I think he could be/have been better than Prescott
@Ollie Ryan: it’s nice to have another browns fan about. Ya I think Dalton is decent and Bengals offence and defence never helped. Great signing.
@Caoimhín O’Cheallacháin: I thought I was the only one
@Colm Connolly: unlike The Browns, The Bengals have all the ingredients there to make a classy uniform, but it’s an eye sore
@Colm Connolly: You do know where the Bengals got their colours from?
@Ollie Ryan: haha ya , I have to day thou for years I preferred the Bengals jerseys but that white jersey the browns have now looks pretty sharp or at least as sharp as a browns jersey can
@Ollie Ryan: im on an island here but i think the Bengals and browns have the best helmets and unis in the league
@Ollie Ryan: no I’m just hoping baker can turn into the QB I think he can be. I like his story. See if he can overcome this adversity next!