“Poor performance against Crystal Palace” – Pochettino told to drop 21-year-old Chelsea star ahead of Manchester city clash
Mauricio Pochettino has just one game to go before he has to choose his team for the EFL Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley.
However, he will certainly have been hoping for a slightly nicer fixture to test things out, with them travelling to title favourites Manchester City in the Premier League.
They will have some momentum behind them off the back of their thrilling comeback victory against Crystal Palace on Monday.
The win is the best description of ‘a game of two halves’ in recent memory as far as Chelsea are concerned.
A spirited and professional second half display got the job done in the London derby, however it did help many forget just how bad the opening 45 had been.
The Blues went 1-0 down following a great strike from Jefferson Lerma, however one or two questions were asked of goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.
Questions were also asked of how the ball got to the Palace man. It emerged that a lot of the criticism fell the way of Noni Madueke.
Nkunku should be dropped
The winger lost posession on the edge of his own box, and was quickly replaced after what had been a very average first half display.
He was replaced by Christopher Nkunku, with the attacking system looking far more fluid after the Frenchman’s introduction.
Madueke had earned his place on the pitch off the back of a really promising performance against Aston Villa in the FA Cup the week before, however chances don’t come too often to maintain places in the squad right now.
After the poor performance against Palace, the decision should be made for him to drop to the bench for the upcoming match against Manchester City.
Nkunku or Raheem Sterling would be the most likely options to replace him, with the latter always looking hungry when facing his former side.