Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard has admitted that his players clashed furiously with one another in the dressing room following an atrocious first half performance against Arsenal.
The Blues looked completely hopeless during the early stages of the game at the Emirates Stadium and soon fell behind to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s header. Emerson was withdrawn after 34 minutes and replaced by Jorginho, who helped inspire Chelsea to a much-improved second half.
As noted by The Telegraph, Lampard did not hold back at half time, telling his team exactly what he thought of their shocking performance. He then opened the floor up to his squad, who made their disappointment abundantly clear.
Heated words were exchanged between many of the squad, while Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma are even understood to have continued their talks out on the field, but it certainly did work as Chelsea looked far better after the interval.
“I like that and there should be because you don’t want 11 quiet players who just get on with it and just want to trot out again,” said Lampard when asked about the atmosphere at the break.
“I said my piece and was pretty firm because you can’t just come here and have nothing about you and think you’re going to get anything.
“It was ‘can we show something here, lads? Because we have to, we’re Chelsea and we can’t just roll up and not feel like the 3,000 fans who have travelled across London to watch the game’. Then the lads started talking and it was a bit aggressive, which is a good thing.”
Tammy Abraham made it two soon after as he fired home from close range, keeping the Blues four points ahead of Manchester United in the race for fourth place.
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