Chelsea boss Frank Lampard admitted that his team could have avoided a “nervy” end to their 3-2 victory over Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday if their finishing had been a bit more clinical.
Young English forward Tammy Abraham scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea after three minutes at Carrow Road and, after Todd Cantwell pulled one back for the hosts, Chelsea restored their lead through Mason Mount.
Norwich City forward Teemu Pukki scored for the third consecutive match to pull the hosts level at the break but Abraham netted the winner after 68 minutes, rattling a shot through Grant Hanley’s legs and beyond Norwich keeper Tim Krul to clinch the first three points for the Blues this season.
Lampard succeeded Maurizio Sarri as the new Chelsea boss earlier in the summer and the 41-year-old explained that he had to work hard for the points against the Championship winners. The former England midfielder said the Blues had deserved more in their opening two league games – a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United at Old Trafford and a 1-1 draw at home with Leicester City.
While speaking to BT Sport Lampard said that he hopes Chelsea can see out the end of a few games better than the one at Carrow Road, “It was a tough test and Norwich will get a lot of points here and give teams hard games as they are a very good side, I think we played really well. The only thing I’d say is those were two goals we shouldn’t be giving away, particularly the second one I didn’t like, and we need to be more clinical. If we’re more clinical, we take the game away from Norwich and we don’t have the nervy last five or 10 minutes, but I thought there were lots of really good elements to our game and I’m pleased.”
