Chelsea verdict: Tammy Abraham making the most of his chances as he fights for his spot with Blues and England
IT is one week short of a year since Tammy Abraham won his last England cap and scored his only international goal in the 7-0 thrashing of Montenegro.
But the Chelsea striker will join up with Gareth Southgate’s squad next week with renewed optimism of restarting his Three Lions career in the forthcoming games against Ireland, Belgium and Denmark.
Abraham’s long-term prospects did not look that great when Chelsea splashed out £117.5million on Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in the summer and the home-grown youngster looked destined for a long spell on the bench.
But Abraham has bided his time and with Havertz in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus earlier this week is making the most of his opportunity to impress.
After scoring in the midweek Champions League win against Rennes, Abraham knew it was imperative to keep his name to the forefront against bottom of the table Sheffield United.
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And he did just that with his fourth goal of a stop-start campaign to confirm that he is not going to give up his place in the starting team without a fight.
His 24th minute equaliser to set Chelsea on their way to this comfortable victory wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty as he scuffed a low shot into the far corner.
But the way he peeled off to buy himself acres of room to connect with Mateo Kovacic’s pull-back was proof of his penalty-box intelligence.
So was the way he led the Chelsea line, winning numerous headers against Sheffield United’s three central defenders and holding up the ball to allow team-mates to join in the attack.
He might have scored again but was denied twice in the space of 30 seconds by last-ditch blocks from John Egan and Enda Stevens.
He also showed his selfless side when he teed up the impressive Hakim Ziyech for a shot which Egan again just managed to divert over the bar.
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Now Frank Lampard will find it difficult to omit last season’s 18-goal top scorer even when Havertz returns after the international break.
The emergence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin has given Abraham serious competition for the role of England’s back-up target man to Harry Kane.
But he has never let his head drop despite his limited first team opportunities and has already dispelled fears that he could be a one-season wonder.