Frank Lampard believes Chelsea saw the real Callum Hudson-Odoi in Chelsea’s 3-0 Premier League win over Burnley.
The England forward slid home his maiden Premier League goal as Chelsea swept past Burnley for a stylish antidote to recent sluggish showings at Stamford Bridge.
The 19-year-old tore his Achilles tendon against Burnley in April and was able to delight in turning full-circle with a return to top form against the same opponents.
Hudson-Odoi had suffered social media criticism for a below-par showing in Chelsea’s 2-0 Boxing Day loss to Southampton, but starred as the Blues shrugged off successive home league losses to leave boss Lampard suitably impressed.
“For Callum to score in the six-yard box is far more exciting for me than for him to score from 35 yards, without a doubt,” said Lampard.
“Because it means that he’s prepared to run the extra bit to sprint in there.
“And that wasn’t the only time he did it today, he did it on one of the early chances we had in the first half.
“He was doing it, recovering, going higher up the pitch at the right times.
“And his overall performance was an absolute statement for Callum of what he needs to do.
“That was the real Callum Hudson-Odoi and what he can be, and there’s obviously more to come.
“But I thought his goal was brilliant for him and if he can carry on doing that, then that’s a serious player we have in Callum.”
Successive home league losses to Bournemouth and Southampton had left manager Lampard admitting the Blues fans had a right to lament his side’s Stamford Bridge performances.
And just when the Blues needed a morale-boosting victory Lampard’s men delivered, with Jorginho converting a penalty, Tammy Abraham heading his 13th league goal of the term and Hudson-Odoi also netting.
Lampard admitted Chelsea set the standard for their home performances in a comfortable and fluent victory.
“It was just what was needed in terms of performance and result,” said Lampard.
“The one thing obvious to everyone is that we should have scored more goals. But I won’t complaint today because we did score, and we scored in the first half.
“A big factor in the recent losses at home was that we’d have a relative amount of control, fail to score, everyone gets a bit nervous and then we concede.
“Today was different in how it looked because we were so positive from minute one, we were so fast in pass and running off the ball and our control of the game that it felt good. And we got our goals.
“So it’s a big win for us and one that we must pick up and replicate and realise why.
“It’s a nice example of a standard that we’ve set and we have to match that.
“I’m not getting carried away, it just feels good; it was nice to smile in a game and enjoy what you’re watching, really positive football, great movement of the ball, getting combination down the side, crossing balls a lot and looking like we’re going to score goals. That’s what excites the fans.
“I felt for the fans in some of the recent home games. I understand it’s not that exciting when the level of the speed comes down. Today we just changed all that.”
Burnley boss Sean Dyche was left with precious few complaints, admitting Chelsea dominated throughout.
“Overall they were too good, I have no question with the result, they were too strong for us,” said Dyche.
“We’ve hit a tough spell and that’s the Premier League, it creeps up on you.
“Often it’s a double-edged sword of winning games brings confidence, but you need confidence to win games.”
