Conor Gallagher has heaped praise on Benoit Badiashile and Noni Madueke following Chelsea's 3-1 win over Bournemouth. The pair of January signings played an important role in the Blues' victory at the Vitality Stadium as Frank Lampard finally ended his winless streak as caretaker manager.
Gallagher opened the scoring for Chelsea on Saturday afternoon before Matias Vina equalised for the Cherries moments with a fantastic effort. The west Londoners could've settled for a point but Badiashile reclaimed the lead in the final 10 minutes.
Then, in the dying embers of the clash, Joao Felix extended Chelsea's advantage to two-goals with a delicately-placed strike. In an interview with the club's official website after the game, Gallagher was very complimentary of Badiashile and Madueke for their efforts, despite a lack of game time recently.
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"They are obviously great players," said the Cobham graduate. "Maybe they haven’t played as much as they'd have liked because of the number of players in our squad but they showed great professionalism and I thought they were brilliant.
"Noni has been waiting for his opportunity and got it against Arsenal and on Saturday, and he showed what he can do. I knew what he’s like because of England Under-21s. He's very young so he’s got even more to go. It's very exciting for him to be here."
In the post-match press conference, Lampard attributed the trio as catalysts to Chelsea's impressive performance on the south coast. The 44-year-old said: "It was very evident from coming in that there was a lot of picking up that needed to be done and unfortunately you need results to go in line with that to keep stepping forward.
"That's been tough and the lads are all human. When you're not winning games, or if you don't feel like you're at your best, and the only way to get through that is to fight and to get through it.
"In this period, it will be the challenge on the players that will make them stronger or better as they go on," added Lampard. "Absolutely they should enjoy tonight and have a beer or wine, or whatever they do.
"We don't want to take our foot off the pedal in terms of trying to take steps towards the end of the season because it's important. Today you saw individual performances in Badiashile, in Conor Gallagher, in Noni Madueke and other players in the team, so that's a big step forward because these are individuals who will be part of the team going forward probably. That's a good sign."
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