At half-time of last night’s Premier League game against Crystal Palace, Chelsea fans will have been fearing that all their recent good work was for nothing.
The dominant win against Aston Villa in the FA Cup was arguably their best performance of the season, however the next 45 minutes that followed were far from their best.
Against a team that they have been victorious against 12 times in a row, they were way off it and trailed off the back of a Jefferson Lerma goal where Noni Madueke was caught in possession on the edge of his box.
The Englishman was trusted with another start last night against the side who he announced his return to regular first team action against at the back end of last year.
However, it is fair to say that he did not enjoy his 45 minutes, with him having very little impact on the game.
One positive from Mauricio Pochettino this evening was that he did not hesitate to change things when it was clearly not working.
Pochettino’s Nkunku sub saves Chelsea
After looking to his bench, the manager brought on Christopher Nkunku for the third consecutive game, as his return from injury continues to be managed.
Instantly, the frontline looked a lot more settled, and within just a few minutes they already had found themselves level through Conor Gallagher.
The academy graduate gave them the lead in the 90th minute with a fine finish from the edge of the box, before Enzo Fernandez put the finishing touches on the win.
While he was not directly involved in any of the three goals, having Nkunku as part of the attack clearly made the Blues a far stronger side, and they should look to utilise him there when they return to action on Saturday with the tricky test of Manchester City away from home.
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