Here is your Chelsea digest for Tuesday, December 22.
Abraham opens up on brace
Tammy Abraham scored twice to help Chelsea claim a 3-0 win over West Ham on Monday night.
Speaking after the game, the Blues striker told Sky Sports: "That was much more like it. I said it before, the boys needed to put on a performance today and that’s what we’ve done.
"My job is to help the team as much as possible and to score goals, being in the right areas and that’s what I did for those two goals.
“As a striker, scoring goals gives you confidence. I give credit to my teammates, they created a lot of chances today and we defended well as a team, to beat West Ham 3-0 is a great result.
Player ratings
Alan Smith rated the Chelsea players after the win over the Hammers. Here is a taster.
Edouard Mendy Rounded by Declan Rice early on only for the former Chelsea midfielder to be flagged offside having found the net. West Ham had plenty of possession but the goalkeeper did not have too much to trouble him. 6
Cesar Azpilicueta Did very well to come across and cover a West Ham counterattack 20 minutes in, intercepting Sebastien Haller, and got forward well even though there were one or two signs of rust in the opening half from the club captain. Also made a crucial block to deny a goalbound Pablo Fornals effort early in the second period. 7
Kurt Zouma Made an important headed clearance in the 27th minute after a careless Jorginho pass saw Jarrod Bowen find Haller and generally kept West Ham's target man quiet despite the away team's threat from wide areas. 6
Thiago Silva Excellent untracked run, leap and then finish to break the deadlock in the 10th minute. Largely unruffled in defence but went down a bit soft under pressure from Bowen when the West Ham winger found the net only to be penalised for the foul. 7
Ben Chilwell Injured early after coming off worse when challenging Jarrod Bowen. Received treatment to his right ankle and then tried to continue but he could not shake the limp and was replaced by Emerson Palmieri. 5
N'Golo Kante Not as effective in the more advanced role as a result of Jorginho's inclusion but dropped deep when the Italian was taken off midway through the second period. Kept it neat and tidy. 6
Green sends warning to Granovskaia
Former Chelsea goalkeeper Rob Green believes the club is in a financial mess surrounding unwanted goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Spaniard, who joined Blues for a club record £77m back in 2018 from Athletic Bilbao, has struggled for form over the past year and he was dropped by Frank Lampard earlier this season.
The 26-year-old has made just four appearances for Chelsea and his last Premier League outing came in the middle of October.
Summer signing from Rennes Edouard Mendy has replaced Kepa between the sticks and according to Green, Chelsea are lumped with a huge financial problem surrounding the Spaniard.
"It’s a tough sell. It’s a numbers thing," Green told The Athletic. "Chelsea and [their director] Marina Granovskaia are not in the business of losing money.
"They have an asset which is depreciating greatly but with football clubs in the financial state they’re in, it’s going to be tough to put something together.
"I’m not even talking just about selling, even a loan is going to be a struggle.
"The transfer fee and the wages [believed to be around £170,000 a week] is the biggest obstacle to resolving the situation."
