Lampard praises Giroud, Alonso as rarely used Chelsea oldies put Spurs to the sword, again

In Chelsea’s youth revolution, there’s not been much room for Marcos Alonso, 29, or Olivier Giroud, 33. In fact, it was the first time all season they both started the same game, after previously combining for just five appearances in the last four months, since the end of October.

That said, seeing both of them on the scoresheet was not that much of a surprise. Alonso loves scoring against London rivals — now with 3 goals against both Spurs and Arsenal, the most against any one team for the striker stuck in a left wing-back’s body — and in-form Giroud has now scored against Spurs for the second season running (slightly happier circumstances today after last season’s 3-1 loss at White Hart Lane Wembley). That Giroud was briefly linked with Spurs in January makes this even sweeter.

Afterwards, Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard had plenty of praise for both rarely used veterans.

“It’s always good when [such decisions] come off. Oli showed his quality and attributes. You know that you can find him and finish. Marcos’s finish was top drawer. You need to trust that they are good professionals, and they are.”

“I think [Giroud] can be [the change of pace]. If he needs to adapt slightly. Abraham has been excellent. You understand the attributes of them both. We still have some issues. There are ways we can get that threat.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

While Alonso and Giroud are unlikely to see too great of an increase in minutes, it’s great to see their impact and hopefully we can apply that surgically going forward.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s rotation in attack sets up the team well for Tuesday’s big game against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Abraham and Willian both got extended rests — despite Willian scoring a brace last time we faced Spurs — while Callum Hudson-Odoi will hopefully be back as well.