A nysterious injury of some sort kept him out of the FA Cup semifinal last weekend and on the bench in the first half at Liverpool, but once Christian Pulisic played again this week, he completely bossed it. His astounding display at Anfield took his already impressive goals and assists per minutes played rate and just made it even more other-worldy. Had he played since the get-go, who knows how he could have altered that final score. Chelsea lost 5-3, but were up 2-1 for the time that the American was on.
In the Chelsea squad, midfield maestro N’Golo Kante is the number one undroppable. Christian Pulisic, a scoring productivity and efficiency machine is right there behind him. The Pennsylvanian Messi is taking on a more critical and assertive role within the team, and his teammates sense it.
every time Mason Mount (who came with Frank Lampard from Derby County) gets selected ahead of Christian Pulisic (who was acquired under the previous manager, Maurizio Sarri) it disputes the "sports is a meritocracy! it's NOT all about who you know" narrative
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) July 22, 2020
Domestically, Chelsea have one league contest, tomorrow vs Wolves (for the Blues team news in that one go here), and the FA Cup final against Arsenal on August 1 remaining. They also have the second leg of their UEFA Champions League tie against Bayern Munich remaining, but given their standing on aggregate, it’ll likely be the last match they play in 2019-20.
Unless he suffers another injury setback, Pulisic will play a major part in all of these contests. Looking ahead to 20-21, a reporter asked Lampard after the match about the importance of Pulisic in his plans for next season.
“Hugely important,” the first year manager responded.
“He has had that impact. I was here for Eden’s first year and it is not easy coming to the Premier League, and for Eden in that first year it was adapting to the Premier League.”
“Christian has had his moments of that but mid-season he had a really good patch and then since restart he has been in incredible form. Only the injury he picked up in the Norwich game has kept him out of the semifinal when he’s flying.”
“Against Liverpool he came on and played 40 minutes which is great for feeling confident about the injury and the qualities he has been showing.”
At age 21, Pulisic is far from reaching his ceiling too. Although he’s already starting to replace the departed Eden Hazard, Lampard says there is plenty more to come from Pulisic in both the near and short term future.
“He is so young and he has such natural talent and he creates goals and scores goals. He is a big player for us so I’m delighted to see him come through fit,” Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer said.
“Clearly he will be a big player in these next few games for us and going forward as well.”
Indeed the young left winger is on his way towards becoming world class. Pulisic, Lampard and Chelsea face Wolves tomorrow with a Champions League qualification slot on the line.
FYIs
Chelsea Team News: Go to this link
Chelsea starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kickoff: Sunday 26 July 4:00pm BST, Stamford Bridge
Odds: Chelsea: 0.85, Draw: 2.80, Wolves: 3.00
Form Guide: Chelsea WLWWLW Wolves WLLWDW
Prediction: Chelsea 3, Wolves 2
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.