Thomas Tuchel with Ruben Loftus-Cheek. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
Thomas Tuchel is delighted for Ruben Loftus-Cheek after his goal helped Chelsea to win 2-0 against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final. The midfielder broke the deadlock on the night as he laid bare waste to the opponents’ stubborn defence, which caused them trouble throughout the match.
Loftus-Cheek has always endured obstacles in his pathway, which did not help him reach the heights that many expected him to after achieving promotion to the senior team set-up. Injuries have often stagnated his progression and halted his form throughout these years.
The heavy competition has not helped either, but he has stepped up in recent weeks. Loftus-Cheek was on hand to send the ball crashing into the roof of the net around the 65th-minute mark. The volley may have taken a deflection but it was struck well and the Englishman did well to get himself in that position.
Speaking in the post-match presser (h/t Chelsea official website), Tuchel is hopeful that the crucial goal against Palace would help the Englishman gain more confidence moving forward. The boss expressed that the central midfielder needs to believe in himself to perform at his best, which he hopes to see happen more often from here on out.
“Hopefully it’s a big moment for him. He’s normally a very calm, very quiet guy but we saw him jumping and celebrating the goal and that is good because he’s the opposite of over-confident. You need to instil this confidence into his body and into his game and these are the next steps for him, that he can absolutely feel how much influence he can have, and that he shows everybody in the stadium his potential, and not only to us on the training ground.”
The 26-year-old has played 32 matches this season, scoring once and assisting four goals across all competitions. The midfielder’s goal against the Eagles would undoubtedly be a big boost to him under the current circumstances. After all, he did impress against Real Madrid and Southampton as well before the FA Cup semis.
While the Premier League ace did not get in on the goal involvements, his impact was certainly felt in both those fixtures. Perhaps this rich run of form could finally help him cement a starting spot under the Blues manager. That is certainly a possibility when others like N’Golo Kante have struggled to perform well this year.
Loftus-Cheek would need to maintain his current form moving forward and maintain his full fitness as well. After all, competition remains high, which could get even more difficult following the arrival of Conor Gallagher and Billy Gilmour this summer.
That being said, Saul Niguez and Ross Barkley’s futures are still certain, which means that Loftus-Cheek could still play a part with us in the future. While Saul is on a season-long loan from Atletico Madrid that ends this summer, Barkley has clearly struggled for minutes and doesn’t seem like he is part of Tuchel’s long-term or even short-term plans.
With the FA Cup final against Liverpool set to take place next month, we would need Loftus-Cheek to perform similarly to give us the best chance of winning the cup after consecutive losses in the final of the same competition. Only time will tell whether the academy graduate can finally make a mark with us by taking advantage of his current progress.
The Blues lost the FA Cup against Leicester City last year after having lost to Arsenal the season before that. Chelsea were also very unlucky to lose the Carabao Cup final earlier this year on penalties against the Reds.
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