Frank Lampard praises his Chelsea team for ‘showing character’ after West Ham win

Frank Lampard praised the ‘character’ of his Chelsea team after they bounced back from two straight losses to hit West Ham on Monday night.

Summer signing Thiago Silva led the Blues after just 10 minutes at Stamford Bridge before a late double by Tammy Abraham completed a comfortable victory.

Lampard’s men had lost their previous two games to Everton and Wolves, but won again here to return to contention for the title.

Frank Lampard praised the character of his Chelsea team after they easily defeated West Ham

Chelsea returned to winning ways on Monday after losing both of their previous league games

And the Chelsea manager praised his team after doing light work with a “dangerous” West Ham team.

“The game was tough,” Lampard told Sky Sports after the final whistle.

“We started very well, but in the second half we didn’t get as much ball. It was good to see that at the end because we had a 1-0 period where it was difficult, we handled it well. Once we got the second goal, Kovacic came in and got us onto the pitch and we could have had more goals at the end.

“You are obviously delighted when you get that second and third goal because West Ham can hurt you.

Thiago Silva broke the deadlock early in the first half when he was left unmarked in the area.

Tammy Abraham provided the other two goals for Lampard’s men at Stamford Bridge

Tonight was not vintage. I thought there were some good parts, but the main thing was that the character was coming after two losses. ”

He added: ‘The season looks different than any other season, for whatever reason. It’s hard for a club with the expectation and the squad that we have.

‘You have some challenges when you lose a couple of games and I have to be the one driving it, there was a bit of tension in the game. We showed graft without being beautiful and it was a good result. ‘

The Chelsea manager also reserved praise for Abraham, who had not started in any of the Blues’ last four league games and couldn’t find the net in a whole month, but returned to the scoreboard with a close-range finish in minute 78. at Stamford Bridge.

Abraham had been scoreless in a month but was clinical against West Ham

Two minutes later, the England forward doubled his tally when he shot confidently from a tight angle after Christian Pulisic was denied.

With fellow forward Timo Werner without a goal in nine games, Abraham’s return to form was a relief for Lampard, who saw his team climb to fifth in the Premier League and six points against Liverpool.

“Clearly, it’s good for Tammy’s confidence,” said the Chelsea manager.

You have to work for your goals and he worked for the goals today and he tried very hard.

‘I wanted it to be a handful, I wanted to see movement and he did that. Oli (Giroud) has been doing it and scoring goals recently, so it was one more opposition decision for Tammy (starter) and I’m satisfied with how she did it.

“You need people to score goals regularly and this will do Tammy good.”