Chelsea have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Crystal Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha as the Roy Hodgson’s side are eyeing Olivier Giroud this January, according to the Guardian.

Frank Lampard is keen to strengthen his attacking options after pointing out that the exit of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid has lessened his side’s creative threat.

Lampard was angry that Chelsea failed to build on first-half goals from Tammy Abraham and César Azpilicueta against Lille, who halved the deficit thanks to a late effort from Loïc Rémy.

Zaha is eager to play at the highest level and Chelsea, whose transfer ban was halved last week, are giving him strong consideration.

The 27-year-old winger is Palace’s most important player and part of his appeal to Chelsea is that he would not need to adapt to the Premier League and would be eligible to play in the Champions League. With Pedro and Willian out of contract at the end of the season, Chelsea need to start building for the future.

Chelsea’s hopes of signing Zaha could be smoothed by Palace’s interest in Olivier Giroud.

The striker, whose contract expires in the summer, has been out of favour and risks losing his spot in the France squad for Euro 2020.

He is expected to tell Lampard he wants to leave in January. Chelsea, who could yet offer Willian a new deal, will also look to raise funds by selling Pedro and Marcos Alonso.

“I will look at all areas of the team but I think it was quite clear in the summer that you lose Eden Hazard, who was a huge part of scoring or creating our goals last season and the season before that,” Chelsea’s manager said.

“I think we’ve found ways as a team where we can still be competitive. We’ve shown that in the league and now the Champions League. But if we’re looking at if we can get even better, can we get better in forward areas to help the idea of being more clinical, then I think we’ll always look at that.

“We’re just not converting enough. Some of that is to keep working and I’m not here to criticize anybody because we’ve just qualified from a really tough group to get through to the next stage of the Champions League. But we have standards here and I know how much the players also want to be successful. It’s very clear, so we’ll keep working towards it.”