‘X factor for Chelsea, he’s was absolutely outstanding’: Paul Merson got carried away by one Chelsea star in 4-1 win over Burnley
Paul Merson thinks Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling was the “outstanding” player on the pitch during their away win over Burnley earlier today.
It’s been a pretty challenging start to the season for Chelsea, but they enter this October international break fresh off three consecutive wins across all competitions.
The Blues came from behind on Saturday afternoon to record an emphatic 4-1 victory at Turf Moor.
There’s no doubt that Raheem Sterling, 28, played a key role for the visitors.
Chelsea’s winger, recalled to the starting XI by Mauricio Pochettino, was involved in all four goals for the visitors to highlight a dominant individual performance.
In fact, Chelsea boss Pochettino hailed Sterling’s display in his post-match interview, as quoted by BBC Sport.
Sky Sports pundit Merson waxed lyrical about Sterling during his post-match analysis of Chelsea’s latest win in the Premier League. He added it’s criminal that he’s not been included in Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad.
“I thought Sterling was outstanding,” Merson told the Sky Sports News channel.
“From box to box this season Chelsea have been alright, it’s just putting the ball of the net. I’ve said over recent weeks soon they’re going to put four or five past someone, today it came off. It was all down to Sterling. He was absolutely outstanding.
“It beats me (he’s not in the England squad). He has his ups and down games. But when he has his good games, he’s the X factor.”
On top of his a sublime left-footed finish to score Chelsea’s third goal, Sterling was influential throughout for his team.
It was his cross that deflected in off Ameen Al Dakhil for an own goal to make it 1-1 in the first half.
In addition, Sterling was fouled in the lead up to Cole Palmer’s penalty for 2-1. He was involved prior to Nicolas Jackson’s strike, too.
Chelsea enter an extremely tough run of fixtures after the international break, but they’re going to be in a lot better place if a fully fit Sterling is firing in the XI. He’s the one forward in this current attack with a proven record of scoring lots of goals in the Premier League.