How Chelsea could line up against Leeds with Olivier Giroud picked over Abraham after stunning four-goal masterclass
CHELSEA star Olivier Giroud is set to be rewarded for his Champions League heroics with a start against Leeds.
The Frenchman, 34, walked off with the match ball after scoring a perfect hat-trick and a penalty in the 4-0 win against Sevilla.
Giroud’s standout showing made him just the second player to score four goals for an English side in the Champions League after Ruud van Nistelrooy for Manchester United in 2004.
And the former Arsenal man admitted afterwards that he wants to be playing otherwise he’ll look to leave the club in January.
But he is in line to make his first Premier League start of the season following his four goal haul in Spain.
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When asked if Giroud has a good claim for a place, Chelsea boss Frank Lampard told BT Sport: “Yeah, he does.
“I’ll have to see because it is a tight turnaround but it’s four goals in a game.
“It’s not just his own performance but when you play Ollie and you utilise his strengths and still maintain threats from the side with speed and quality play from the middle of the park, then you see a real nice balance about our attacking play.
“It’s not easy scoring four but again he’s done it on this level against a really top opponent. His input into the goals was really top class.”
Giroud’s involvement will likely see Tammy Abraham relegated to the substitutes bench with Timo Werner pushed out wide.
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Otherwise Lampard is expected to name an unchanged side from the team that drew 0-0 to Spurs with Edouard Mendy in goal.
Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma and Reece James will all reclaim their starting berths after being rested on Wednesday.
But Lampard admitted he was keen not to rush Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz back into the first-team following their comebacks from injury and Covid respectively.
Both Chelsea stars made their return to the starting line-up against Sevilla but were hooked in the second-half as they build up their fitness.
