Abraham, Pulisic lift 'sloppy' Chelsea into third

Frank Lampard said "sloppy" Chelsea need to be more clinical after they survived a tense finish to climb to third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory at lowly Watford.

Lampard's side bounced back from their midweek League Cup defeat against Manchester United to make it five successive league wins on Saturday.

The Blues have won eight of their past nine matches in all competitions as Lampard continues to make a good impression in his first season in charge.

His decision to go with unproven youngsters like Tammy Abraham, who opened the scoring, has been a shrewd move, while Christian Pulisic, scorer of the second, is justifying his hefty price tag after starting the season on the bench.

Gerard Deulofeu's late VAR-awarded penalty came too late to stop Chelsea recording a seventh successive away win in all competitions.

They are just two points behind second-placed Manchester City despite being unable to sign players in the summer due to a transfer ban.

But with a trip to City looming and Champions League ties against Ajax and Valencia on the schedule, November will provide much sterner tests of Chelsea's progress than this stroll in the autumn chill at Vicarage Road.

"We played really well, our midfield was outstanding, but we just cannot have that sloppy bit near the end," Lampard said.

"It was a terrible 10 minutes considering how the game had gone. We need to be more clinical, we got a bit sloppy.

"We rely on our goalkeeper for those moments at the end of the game and he did what we needed him to do."
- Foster keeps it close -
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