Club legend and current Chelsea assistant coach Gianfranco Zola has tipped Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata to come good when it comes to putting the ball into the back of the net.
Over the summer, speculation was rife that the Blues were keen to add another striker to challenge Giroud and Morata for a starting spot yet no move materialised. This seemed to be a mistake early in the season when both forwards, established internationals and with proven track records, struggled with regards to their goalscoring contributions.
More recently, they seemed to have found their groove, with the Spaniard netting in five of his last seven appearances while the Frenchman just ended his goalscoring drought in the match against BATE Borisov, but while rumours persist of a need for the club to buy striking reinforcements in the winter transfer window, the current strike duo have received the backing of current Chelsea No2 Zola.
The Blues legend, who was a forward himself, explains that Giroud and Morata have contributed to Sarri’s cause in more ways than one.
“You probably expect the main strikers to be the main scorers but sometimes that’s not the case, especially if you play differently,” says the 52-year-old Italian. “[Maurizio] Sarri asks the strikers to do a lot of work for the team, and even if they don’t score, they are very important for the team. I think they are learning about this.
Zola added that he remains confident that the floodgates will open for Giroud and Morata soon while hailing their professionalism when leading the frontline for the west London club. “At the moment they are busy doing this and have less attention for scoring. But it will come. I’m 100 per cent it will come. Also they have a good attitude on the pitch and in the week,” continued Zola.
“The strikers for Maurizio, they always score a lot of goals. Maybe not at the beginning, but in the end they score. That’s what I’m hoping is going to be the case here as well.”
