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Football London
Football London
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Oliver Harbord & Alan Smith

Tammy Abraham vs Olivier Giroud - Who Frank Lampard should pick to lead his Chelsea starting XI

Chelsea are almost back in action with the Premier League set to get under way next week.

The Blues will travel to Aston Villa for their first game of the restart, before hosting Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on the following Thursday.

One of the big questions for Frank Lampard will be who should lead the line, with Tammy Abraham having played the majority of the campaign but Olivier Giroud having impressed before football's suspension.

So who should lead the line when the Premier League returns? football.london's writers have their say.

Premier League TV fixtures in June

Oliver Harbord - Chelsea correspondent

For many Chelsea fans, this shouldn't be much of a debate after the season that Tammy Abraham has had, but for me Olivier Giroud should be starting when the Premier League is back under way.

The World Cup winner showed before football was suspended just what he can bring to the Chelsea team, bringing more to those around him.

Something that Lampard found a lot of joy in is using the target man and having two players closer to him to play off, and it's a tactic that worked very well.

It would be a big call to leave Abraham on the sidelines, but Giroud has given Chelsea another edge.

With the amount of games, no doubt they will both get a chance for the end of the campaign.

Alan Smith - Senior writer

If Tammy Abraham is fit, there can be no debate here. Olivier Giroud did well in the games before the interruption but the England striker has been Frank Lampard’s most important player for much of the campaign.

There is also now a further onus on Abraham to prove he is the man to lead the line for the long-term. The pressure has been ramped up and it will be fascinating to see how he responds.

At the same time, so many games in a short duration means rotation will be inevitable so expect plenty of minutes for Giroud.

Michy Batshuayi’s prospects appear less rosy and he will almost certainly be limited to cameos off the substitutes’ bench.

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