sortiwa
Chelsea were ambling towards the fourth round of the FA Cup when Callum Hudson-Odoi, feeling a familiar twinge in his right achilles, went down with no one near him as half-time approached. Hudson-Odoi had been the star of the show, scoring an excellent goal and playing a pivotal role in another, and the sight of him calling for treatment briefly sucked the air out of Stamford Bridge. Everyone feared the worst: a repeat of the ruptured achilles tendon that curtailed the gifted 19-year-old’s progress last season.
Thankfully it was a false alarm. Hudson-Odoi was back on his feet soon enough, free to return to the task of tormenting Nottingham Forest’s full-backs, but it was a reminder of the need to be patient with a young talent who is still working his way back to peak fitness.
There has been a lot of noise about the England international, much of it stemming from Bayern Munich’s attempts to capitalise on the winger’s contractual uncertainty convincing Chelsea to hand him a deal worth £120,000 a week last September, and he deserves to be given the time and space to continue his development without armchair critics jumping on every wayward pass or missed chance.
“It’s been an interesting 12 months for him considering how young he is,” Frank Lampard said. “Last year everyone was talking about him for different reasons. He gets a terrible injury, he comes back very early and when he did come back there were issues getting him tip-top.”
Lampard, who made nine changes from the 1-1 draw with Brighton on New Year’s Day, was reasonably satisfied with the way his side collected a rare home win. But Chelsea’s manager could have been happier. While a team packed with experienced internationals had too much quality for a Championship side going through the motions, Chelsea were grateful that a couple of tight VAR decisions went their way. Forest had a penalty overturned when they were trailing 1-0 – replays showed Alex Mighten was offside before being fouled by Fikayo Tomori – and Ryan Yates had a header ruled out for offside midway through the second half.
Not that Forest could argue they were the victims of injustice. Their focus is on winning promotion to the Premier League and Sabri Lamouchi’s starting line-up, featuring 10 changes to the side that beat Blackburn on New Year’s Day, showed he regarded this game as an inconvenience. “We do not have chances to win the FA Cup and we want the league,” Forest’s manager said. “If you win, you play one more game, and we have a lot of games to play.”
Chelsea had the right attitude and they quickly identified Yuri Ribeiro, Forest’s left-back, as a weakness. Hudson-Odoi had an effective understanding with Reece James on the right and Lampard urged his players to switch play to that flank, a ploy that bore fruit in the sixth minute. Michy Batshuayi and Pedro fashioned space for Hudson-Odoi to swerve inside before lashing a low drive through Ribeiro’s legs and inside Jordan Smith’s near post.
Hudson-Odoi’s first goal since September lifted the shackles and he was involved when Chelsea doubled their lead, cutting inside again and cracking a shot towards the far post. Smith parried but Ross Barkley, starting in midfield for the first time since 19 October, bundled in the rebound.
The second half was notable for a poor miss from Batshuayi, blazing over from Hudson-Odoi’s cross, and Olivier Giroud failing to make it off the bench. Giroud is desperate to leave this month, with Aston Villa the latest club to target the French forward.
“There’s no update on Oli,” Lampard said. “I’ve spoken with him. If the conditions are that it’s something Oli really wants to do and it works for the club and it works for me and the squad then it’s something that could happen. But only when all three of those bases are covered.”
Source link
