Tammy Abraham has joked that Fikayo Tomori was “smashing windows” in training prior to Chelsea’s 5-2 victory over Wolves.
The 21-year-old defender opened the scoring with a thumping effort from 35 yards which just so happened to be his first-ever shot in the Premier League.
Tomori’s wonder strike: Five key things to know…
- Tomori started his second Premier League game at Wolves.
- He opened the scoring with his first-ever shot in the Premier League.
- His effort came from 35 yards out, with teammate Abraham later admitting that he did not want the defender to shoot.
- The long-range strike was only Tomori’s third goal at senior level.
- Chelsea ran out 5-2 winners at Molineux with Abraham and Mason Mount also on the scoresheet.
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The effort subsequently lead to scenes of delight from Tomori and his teammates – most notably fellow Blues academy graduate Abraham, who went on to bag a hat-trick at Molineux.
Not exactly renowned for his scoring prowess, this was only the centre-back’s third goal at senior club level. His previous two came at Derby County where he temporarily stayed last season and played under current Chelsea boss Frank Lampard.
Lampard fielded Tomori as part of a back-three and being the spare man allowed him to get further up the field, which resulted in his goal, and Abraham has revealed the 21-year-old has been working on his shooting behind the scenes.
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“I was thinking ‘don’t shoot, but everyone is delighted for him,” Abraham told the club’s official website.
“In training, he’s been trying it every day and smashing windows but today it paid off – it was a great strike.
“We were the last people off the pitch because we were discussing how we’ve all scored in the same game for Chelsea. We’ve dreamt of that since we were little boys and we made it happen today.”
The kids are alright
As Abraham touched on, Chelsea’s five goals were spread between three former academy graduates: himself, Tomori and Mount.
It’s becoming one of this season’s trends. All of the Blues’ Premier League strikes (11) have been scored by a player who has progressed through the club’s youth set-up: Abraham (7), Mount (3) and Tomori (1).
21y 124d – The average age of Chelsea's league goalscorers this season has been 21 years and 124 days – the youngest average across the 98 teams in the top five European leagues in 2019-20. Flourishing. pic.twitter.com/MMTVy3LBB3
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 14, 2019
Going even further; if we exclude own-goals, Chelsea are the first team in Premier League history to have 11 goals scored on the bounce by players aged 21 or younger.
Their current average age of 21 years and 124 days means they have the youngest league goalscorers so far this season of any side across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.
Next up is a Champions League group game against Valencia, where Frank Lampard will make his European managerial debut.