Frank Lampard has remained reserved around the subject of future starts for Noni Maduke and Benoit Badiashiile following their impressive showings against Bournemouth.
The 3-1 win for the Blues over the Cherries was the first for Lampard since his return to the Stamford Bridge dugout in early April and Chelsea’s first victory in all competitions since March 11th.
Goals from Conor Gallagher, Badiashile and Joao Felix fired Chelsea to three points, while Madueke impressed greatly on the right wing, causing plenty of issues for Bouremouth’s Matias Vina which prompted the young winger to receive plenty of praise after the match.
The match against Gary O’Neil’s south coast side was Badiashile’s first start since the Blues lost 2-1 to Brighton, while Madueke was given his second consecutive league start, the first time that’s happened since mid-February.
The pair were arguably Chelsea’s best players yesterday and after the game, Lampard was quizzed (quotes via Simon Phillips) on whether they will start more going forward, to which he didn’t seem to give much away.
“It’s probably not easy to answer that. To a degree, yeah, but I’ll have to think about Forest [this Saturday], see what the week says.
“Of course, my role now is to try to give those players minutes, so they can grow a little bit in the team. But also, as much as there’s that, I have to work with all the players and they all have to respect what I’m trying to do.”
The former Blues player went on to admit that the players need to be at a certain level during their match preparation, emphasising the idea of competition in the squad.
“If they’re [Madueke and Badiashile] training well there are other players who will be pushing those players too, so they do need to have a level of performance. Noni’s performance on Tuesday got him in the team, even though he was not so well earlier in the week.”
With nothing left to play for this season, fans will want to see a lot more minutes given to players who have a future beyond this campaign and Madueke and Badiashile have certainly boosted their chances of seeing more time on the pitch, despite Lampard’s answers on the subject.