Fernando Torres couldn’t do it, Alvaro Morata couldn’t do it; Gonzalo Higuain fared no better. But it appears that young Tammy Abraham could be the striker who breaks the infamous curse of the No.9 jersey at Chelsea.
The youngster has scored seven goals in his first five Premier League appearances for the Blues, registering a hat-trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday after scoring braces against Norwich City and Sheffield United in his previous pair of games.
The 21-year-old surprised fans when he opted to wear the number given its history at the club, but he could be the first Chelsea player since the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Gianluca Vialli to make the No.9 popular again.
Torres didn’t actually do that badly as a No.9 at Stamford Bridge but he certainly did not live up to the reputation he’d built at Atletico Madrid and Liverpool. Morata started off with a bang when he joined Chelsea from Real Madrid, but he hardly justified his £60 million fee.
Chelsea fans would do well not to get ahead of themselves as it’s still early days, but one could be forgiven for having confidence in young Tammy – he certainly has confidence in himself.
Another thing he has going for him is the lack of pressure. Torres came in as a January transfer with the pressure of repaying the faith that saw Roman Abramovich break the league’s transfer record for him, while Morata had to come in and fill Diego Costa’s boots. Higuain was also under pressure to perform as he had also built a reputation as one of the most fearsome strikers in Europe and was playing under Maurizio Sarri, a coach who’d gotten the best out of him
Abraham, on the other hand, is playing for a youthful Chelsea side led by an inexperienced coach trying to navigate his way through his first big job all while dealing with the annoyance of a transfer ban. The Blues are unlikely to be criticized unless they finish outside of the top six – and even then, fans might understand. Abraham simply has to go out there and do the best he can, and he’s certainly been doing that.
The list of players who have failed as No.9s at Chelsea is quite long. Apart from the aforementioned trio, the likes of Mateja Kezman, Steve Sidwell, Franko Di Santo, Tony Cascarino, Chris Sutton, Hernan Crespo, and Radamel Falcao all flunked as Blues forwards. All of these players – save Di Santo – came in with big reputations and much was expected. The mention of Crespo is a tad unfair, though, as he would have likely excelled if Jose Mourinho had more faith in him.
It would certainly be impressive if Abraham could score at least 20 goals for the Blues as a No.9 who came from the academy. Odds on the Englishman winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot have shortened after his recent performances and he’s the current top joint scorer alongside Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero. William Hill have 10/1 odds on his chances of finishing the campaign as the league’s top scorer and footy fans could take advantage of William Hill promotions all season long.
William Hill are offering 27/10 odds on the Blues defeating Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, who are 10/11 favourites after their blistering start to the season, when the sides face off next weekend. Chelsea are set to face Valencia in Champions League action before that and the bookies rate them as the favourites at 5/6 while the Spanish side are at 10/3.
For the time being, a top-four finish should be top priority for Lampard and his side. William Hill has them at 9/4 to do so and they’re hoping Tammy could fire them there, possibly even higher.