Dean Saunders suggests Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku has “given up” after watching his performance yesterday against Arsenal.
The Blues suffered a crushing 4-2 defeat on Wednesday night at home to rivals Arsenal, who left Stamford Bridge with three important Premier League points.
Chelsea forward Kai Havertz dropped down to the bench due to the amount of minutes he’s played lately, so Lukaku was gifted a great opportunity to impress on his return to the XI.
However, the striker lasted just an hour before being withdrawn by his manager Thomas Tuchel.
He’s not scored a league goal since December, and really struggled to leave his mark on the game against Arsenal.
TalkSPORT pundit Saunders has questioned the Belgian’s attitude in his latest display, suggesting he didn’t even bother running at times.
“I’m looking at him and thinking are you working your socks off to try and stay in the team? Are you bothered? Do you realise the manager doesn’t like you so you packed in and give up? Do you realise the fans don’t like you for what you said?” Saunders said on talkSPORT.
“I think he’s just given up. He’s not making any runs and because he doesn’t make any runs he is keeping the opposition centre-backs together in the middle of the pitch.
“They are never getting pulled out of the middle or pulled apart.
“Havertz plays up there and pulls people out wide and makes runs and comes short.
“I’m watching Lukaku tonight and he’s walking, the ball gets switched across the pitch and he’s still walking.”
Similarly, pundit and ex-Chelsea player Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink produced a scathing assessment of Lukaku’s latest contribution.
Werner going opposite way to Lukaku
Werner’s always been a player at Stamford Bridge that’s received a lot of support from the fanbase, but even he was receiving plenty of stick recently for inconsistent performances.
The German attacker has completely turned it around, though.
He’s now scored four goals and made two assists in Chelsea’s last four matches, proving he’s still got plenty to offer.
Lukaku had the chance to try reignite some form in his own game, which is an opportunity he completely blew.
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