Benoit Badiashile proved Frank Lampard's decision to start him right with a stellar performance as Chelsea picked up a crucial win against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. The Frenchman completed a £35million move from Monaco to Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window but has often struggled for game time.
The Blues took an early lead after Conor Gallagher latched on to a brilliant N'Golo Kante cross to nod the ball past Neto. Matias Vina equalised just minutes later as the two sides went into the half-time break level at 1-1.
Badiashile restored Chelsea's lead with his first goal for the club, volleying the ball past Neto after getting on the end of a Hakim Ziyech free-kick. Substitute Joao Felix sealed the win after Raheem Sterling set the Portuguese forward up to slot home as Lampard breathed a sigh of relief to finally pick up his first three points since returning as caretaker-manager.
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Badiashile started the game against Bournemouth after Wesley Fofana was ruled out of the matchday squad due to a hamstring problem. Before kick-off Lampard explained Fofana's absence and admitted it was only a 'precautionary measure' to leave the Frenchman out of the squad.
"Fofana had a bit of an issue with his hamstring, yesterday travelling down, so it's more of a precaution on that one," he said. "Other than that, we’ve got a squad, so the players who come in have got to show what they can do."
Badiashile took his chance to show why he deserves to start for the Blues with a brilliant performance against the Cherries. The French defender completed more passes than any other player on the pitch and constantly played direct balls forward into the attackers to get Chelsea moving forwards.
When asked about giving the younger players in the team more minutes in order to build relationships ahead of next season, Lampard responded: "Probably not easy to answer that. To a degree, yes.
"My role now is to try and give those players minutes. To show and to grow a little bit in the team.
"But also as much as there's that, I have to work with all of the players who need to respect what I'm trying to do. So if they're training well, there are other players that will be pushing those players as well.
"Noni's [Madueke] performance on Tuesday gets him in the team today even though he was not so well a couple of days ago. I think we all saw Benoit [Badiashile] today and it's pretty clear he has a big talent. For me, those decisions I'll have to make but they have to keep their level, to keep pushing."
Badiashile was solid defensively and scored a crucial goal to help Lampard's side end their losing run. The 22-year-old was dribbled past just once in the match and he will surely remain in the starting XI for the Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge next weekend as Chelsea look to end the season strong and take as many positives as they can from a poor season overall.
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