The Vardy of Chelsea? Lampard told to use top striker like Leicester

The Blues boss has been told to take a leaf out of Leicester’s book on how to get the best out of his under-performing striker.

Martin Keown suggested Leicester City’s handling of Jamie Vardy offers Frank Lampard a blueprint on how to extract Timo Werner’s potential.

The former RB Leipzig striker has struggled to replicate his impressive Bundesliga performances over in the Premier League, having failed to score in his last nine games in the English top-flight. It’s not only raised doubts over the player, but led to questions on whether Lampard is the right coach for him.

However, Werner scored his first goal for the club since early November in last weekend’s 4-0 win over Morecambe in an FA Cup third-round tie.

And now Keown has encouraged Lampard to keep Werner in a center-forward role, pointing out it makes no more sense starting the German out wide on the left than it does if Leicester were to put Vardy in that position.

“Werner has spent most of this season on the left-wing,” the ex-Arsenal defender wrote in his Daily Mail column.

“Out there, he doesn’t test full backs the way someone such as Callum Hudson-Odoi or Christian Pulisic does, with direct running and a desire to burst beyond the opponent.

“The 24-year-old German is a center forward who is more interested in putting his blistering pace to use by chasing balls over the top.

“You wouldn’t use Jamie Vardy on the wing, so why should it be different for Werner?

“The rapid former RB Leipzig striker went 12 games without a goal, but back in his favored position in the FA Cup, he ended that drought.”

Werner will hope to impress in Chelsea’s trip to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday evening.