Frank Lampard praises Chelsea match winner Olivier Giroud after a vital goal in Norwich victory

Frank Lampard praised Olivier Giroud after he proved to be Chelsea’s big man for the big occasion by scoring the only goal in Tuesday night’s crucial victory over Norwich.

Giroud’s first-half header ensured a 1-0 victory that saw Chelsea bounce back from Sheffield United’s defeat and strengthen their grip on the Champions League race.

Giroud, who ‘did everything’ to leave Stamford Bridge in January, has now scored four times during the project restart.

“He is a great character to us and is scoring important goals at the moment,” said Lampard. “Just before closing, he came in and was part of a couple of great results, so that’s the credit that is owed him anyway.”

‘He has never given me a problem, he has always trained brilliantly. His professionalism was always good.

‘I told him in January that I wanted him to stay and that he was fantastic in how he handled that. How you play is important to us.

Thanks to Tuesday night’s victory over the already relegated Norwich, Chelsea now have a four-point cushion in third place, even though they have played one game more than their rivals. They face Liverpool and Wolves knowing that their fate is in their hands.

“Hopefully we have enough to go through, it is going to be difficult,” Lampard said.

Giroud, winner of the match, added: “ We really wanted to recover and we played a good team against Sheffield United.

‘We have obviously made mistakes, so we try not to do it again. This determination to get it right tonight was very high. The most important thing was the three points, so now we are relieved. ”

Giroud celebrated his goal by appearing by writing something, then revealed: ‘I play scrabble with N’Golo Kante! That’s.’

He added: “The team was a bit under pressure as well because we know we definitely needed victory, so we are happy … I am very satisfied with the goal and it helped the team win the game.”