Willian scores on 300th Chelsea appearance but Abraham sends another reminder to Southgate as Lampard gets lift-off in Champions League

TAMMY ABRAHAM sent a last-ditch message to England boss Gareth Southgate with a classy goal.

Southgate names his squad at 2pm today for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

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That gives him just a few hours to watch a video of Abraham’s performance last night in France and in particular the manner
in which he got back into the groove of scoring.

Abraham, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday with the opener, is being courted by Nigeria through his dad but

fancies England should he get the call from Southgate today.

No English striker is in better form than Chelsea’s rapidly emerging youngster, who now boasts eight goals less than two
months into his debut season as a first-team regular.

And Southgate will probably want to watch Abraham’s first Champions League goal a couple of times just to dwell on the
rookie’s instinctive timing and balance which combined for a moment of class.

After 22 minutes of pedestrian football, Chelsea broke towards the home goal with fit-again N’Golo Kante stationed on the
corner of the Lille area.

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AP:Associated Press

He cut the ball back into the path of defender Fikayo Tomori, who chipped a ball over a ragged defensive line.

Abraham was comfortably onside, despite opposition protests, and with his back to goal took the ball on his instep,
pirouetted and finished off the move he started with his left foot by lashing home a shot with his right peg.

After three games without a goal, Chelsea’s No 1 striker is back in business.

A Londoner, Abraham has already played twice for England but not yet in a competitive game.

This was also a clear signal to Southgate that he would be wise to get Abraham’s international future nailed to the Three
Lions sooner rather than later.

It is just a pity that Willian is a dyed-in-the-wool Brazilian. For the way Chelsea’s experienced winger scored the second
goal makes him a treat to watch and an asset to any team.

With the game drifting towards a tepid stalemate, sub Callum Hudson-Odoi planted a cross from left to right with Willian
waiting at the far end of the area.

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He went for the volley but aimed down instead of up and watched as the ball rebounded like a bouncing bomb on to the turf
then over the despairing keeper to secure Chelsea’s first Champions League win of the campaign.

Nonetheless, it is also a bit of a pity that this team still do not seem to be listening to the message from boss Frank
Lampard about wising up in Europe.

Lampard’s formation maybe did not help. Slotting young right-back Reece James on the wing for his European bow seemed odd,
no matter how versatile we are told the player is.

The 3-4-3 set-up left Chelsea without the steady feet of Mateo Kovacic in the heart of midfield and so somewhat exposed at
times.

But it is more about players than where they stand and there is a tangible and understandable sense of rawness about this
team with so many kids coming through.

There were superb tackles, like the one from Kurt Zouma which was perfectly fair but ended the night for Lille forward
Jonathan Ikone.

But there were also moments when the lack of experience showed — Tomori got rinsed in his own box in the first half and it
needed an athletic save from Kepa Arrizabalaga to deny Luiz Araujo from the follow-up shot.

Zouma’s underclubbed backpass put his keeper under enormous pressure, forcing him to race out of his own box and head clear
from towering Victor Osimhen.

And there was more than a hint of indecision when Lille equalised on 33 minutes from a corner.

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Zouma completely missed his headed clearance and Tomori was still in lift-off mode when Osimhen climbed highest to nod in
from six yards out.

Until Willian struck, it looked as if Chelsea would have to be content with a useful point on the road and another lesson
learned.

This morning they are toasting three points, joint-second spot in Group H and the hope that Abraham will be joining his
team-mates Ross Barkley and Mason Mount in the England squad.