Chelsea's Tammy Abraham, Lucas Piazon score in EFL Cup / loan army derby
A third-round EFL Cup match became a Chelsea loan army derby as Tammy Abraham and Bristol City came to west London to face Lucas Piazon’s Fulham. Both loanees scored, with Abraham walking out the victor.
With 38 players out on loan, Chelsea loanees regularly face off in league and cup games worldwide. Chelsea’s top loanee, Tammy Abraham, made a rare visit to west London yesterday. No, he was not negotiating an early return to the Blues, but taking the pitch at Craven Cottage.
Five-time Chelsea loanee Lucas Piazon opened the scoring on his Fulham debut with a falling header 10 yards out from goal. Piazon played the full 90 minutes while fellow loanee Abraham started on the bench.
Bristol City sent Abraham on just after the hour. He nearly assisted on a Bristol City winner as he made a precise through-pass to Luke Freeman, but the Fulham keeper saved Freeman’s shot.
Abraham, per usual, was not to be denied. He scored the winner in the 90th minute with a quintessential striker’s sliding goal from five yards out.
After the game, Bristol City’s manager Lee Johnson confirmed what many Chelsea fans already believe.
Tammy is the trump card and he carried the weight for us once again… He could go into Chelsea’s team now, no doubt about that. The test will be, does he keep his feet on the ground? He needs to continue to love football and not be in love with being a footballer. – Daily Mail
Abraham’s goal add to the growing list of accolades and milestones this year. Abraham now has more goals than any Chelsea loanee did all last season, when Marco van Ginkel scored eight goals in 16 appearances for PSV Eindhoven. Abraham’s tally makes him the highest-scoring player in the top four flights of English football.
Tammy Abraham’s dominance and impact on his adopted side is staggering. He has as many goals in the EFL Cup than Bristol City’s second-best scorer has in all competitions (three). Abraham has more goals than the rest of the Robins combined.
Bristol City face yo-yo Premier League side Hull City in the fourth round of the EFL Cup. If Bristol City can coalesce behind Abraham and not rely on him so fully for their offence, they may be favorites against Hull despite the league disparity. In that case, Abraham may lead the Robins against the Blues in a later round on the road to Wembley.
EFL Cup ties will take place the week of 24 October, with Chelsea away to West Ham United.
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