Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea star Raheem Sterling is absolutely brilliant when it comes to the work he does off the ball.
Raheem Sterling was the centre of the attention for two goals and an assist in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Luton Town on Friday night.
The 28-year-old attacker showed some brilliant moments of skill in the final third to punish Luton, earning the Blues a first three points of the Premier League season.
However, the England international is more than just attacking output.
Chelsea head coach Pochettino was left raving about Sterling’s display against Luton yesterday.
In particular, the winger’s attitude and work rate when the team are out of possession has been lauded by his manager.
“His commitment in the way he wants to contribute with the team, with his work ethic and quality, he deserves the full credit for his performance. We are very pleased and happy,” Pochettino said, as quoted by Chelsea’s official website.
“He has the quality and he can provide the team goals and assists. And when we don’t have the ball, he works really hard to recover the ball as soon as possible. I’m so pleased for him.”
Shaun Wright-Phillips claimed Sterling looked “on fire” against Luton this week, via Instagram.
It’s important to note his all-round game has looked in a great place in the opening three games of the league campaign.
There was a bit of uncertainty from supporters about the way he was playing in the summer’s pre-season tour of the United States, but the hard work away from the pitch is resulting in him looking extremely sharp.
We’re still in the very infancy of Pochettino’s time at Stamford Bridge, but we can already start to pin the likes of Sterling and Enzo Fernandez as key figures in the Blues XI.
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