Will Tammy Abraham be trusted to lead Chelsea's front-line this season?

Tammy Abraham's case to become Frank Lampard's chosen Number 9 next season was made stronger today, after the 21-year-old put in a solid display against Barcelona in Chelsea's 2-1 win over the Catalans in Japan.

Abraham opened the scoring for the Blues inside 35 minutes, before Ross Barkley rounded things off five minutes before time, doubling Chelsea's advantage against the Spaniards.

Barca hit back through Ivan Rakitic in injury time, though the Croatian's finish acted as no more than a consolation with just seconds left on the clock.

With the centre-forward's position seemingly up for grabs at Stamford Bridge, Abraham will feel confident in his chances of obtaining the starting striker berth this term.

Gonzalo Higuain has returned to Italy with Juventus, leaving Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi as the only other out-and-out front men available to new manager Frank Lampard.

With the Blues placed under a transfer ban until next summer, they are unable to bring in any reinforcements in the forward area, so it looks likely that Abraham will given a fair chance to prove his worth in west London this time out.

It remains to be seen whether or not Abraham has what it takes to cut it in the Premier League and Champions League this season.

However, after his performances in the Championship last term - where he finished as the divisions second-top goalscorer on 26 goals - there are certainly promising signs that the England U21 international will be able to make the step up to the very top level with Chelsea.

With Olivier Giroud's strengths obviously tailored towards the more physical aspects of the game, there will be times where Chelsea may need to take a different approach to games, instead opting for a quicker, more agile forward to get in behind opposing defences. These are exactly the sort of games that Abraham can flourish in.

Chelsea's pre-season win over a Messi-less Barcelona will fill Blues supporters with plenty of optimism, though the club's true test comes in just over two weeks time when they face Manchester United in their Premier League curtain-raiser.

Will Abraham get the nod from Lamps at Old Trafford?