Christian Pulisic wasn't seeing much action under Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Christian Pulisic is happy about scoring a late winner to help Chelsea beat West Ham United by a 1-0 scoreline yesterday. He only received about 15 minutes of action or so on the night, but his impact was certainly felt, having given his side three crucial points against a strong side.
It felt like one of those days for the Blues when Jorginho missed a late penalty after Romelu Lukaku was pulled back by Craig Dawson in the box. However, Pulisic, who came on for Timo Werner around the 76th-minute mark, had the last laugh as he put an inch-perfect cross from Marcos Alonso past Lukasz Fabianski’s goal.
Speaking in the post-match interview (h/t Chelsea official website), Pulisic expressed after the game that it was a “massive” goal for them as the Hammers were stubborn in defence throughout the match. He effectively sent a message to Tuchel clarifying that he has the hunger to play for Chelsea and is eager to make more starts for the club.
“‘I always want to be on the pitch, to help my team and I am glad I got the opportunity today. We played a good match and we got our deserved goal in the end.”
“It was a massive goal. We had so much pressure on them for most of the game but we couldn’t get that breakthrough, so I am happy I was able to help out. We played a good match and we got our deserved goal in the end. I needed to come in and make a difference, prove I want to be playing and I am happy I did that.”
Dropping points would have been the last thing we wanted, especially when the top four battle is heating up below us. Getting involved in it would not have been good for us, so the current five-point cushion over fourth-place Arsenal is a great sight to see. What’s more, we also have a game in hand, which could increase that gap to eight points.
Fans would also be happy for the US international, considering how he has endured a difficult time following the international break. We hope that this crucial goal can help him regain the promise he had shown before the recent breakage. After all, his return to form would greatly boost our prospects of enjoying a great season.
The 23-year-old has increased his tally to seven goals alongside four assists this term from 32 appearances across all competitions. That is a solid return when taking into account how he has not enjoyed first-team stability at Stamford Bridge.
After all, Thomas Tuchel has utilised him in several positions to meet our needs. On top of that, the ex-Borussia Dortmund winger has not started a league game for us since the first week of March, when he scored in a 4-0 thrashing of Burnley. Just 17 of his 32 appearances have been starts this season.
However, Pulisic has gladly played his part as Tuchel wants, which is a great sight to see indeed. We hope that the North American can enjoy solidity moving forward so he can stamp his authority as a starter under the boss’ system. That is certainly a possibility if the forward can regain his form and add more goal involvements to his game. Whether that will happen, though, remains to be seen.
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