Frank Lampard has backed Callum Hudson-Odoi to be effective for Chelsea after being handed his first Premier League start of the season against Southampton.
The England international, omitted from Gareth Southgate's latest squad due to his recent injury issues, has worked his way back into the squad after suffering an Achilles injury at the back-end of last season.
After featuring in the Carabao Cup victory over Grimsby, where he scored, and appearing off the bench in the Champions League victory over Lille in midweek, Hudson-Odoi was handed his second league appearance of the season.
His first came off the bench against Brighton a week ago and, speaking ahead of the match, Lampard explained that he feels it was the right time to bring Hudson-Odoi back into the starting fold.
“We’ve had to be careful with Callum because of the injury and the severity of it, so we’ve had some time off the bench, the time against Grimsby in the Carabao Cup, and it feels like it’s time," he told Sky Sports.
“We’ve got good competition in the wide areas, we need to be a threat from there and Callum can do that when he is at his best. He’s fresh and hopefully that can help us as well.”
Chelsea head to the South Coast in a good vein of form, having won their previous three matches across all competitions, and Lampard also spoke of the importance to maintain that streak ahead of the international break.
“It’s a welcome run of form but it only means so much if we don’t win here, especially going into the international break as the last one we threw away points against Sheffield United, so we don’t want to do it again," he explained.
“This game is going to be tough but after a pretty good month in terms of results, we want to finish it well.”
