Conor Gallagher normally garners the loudest cheer when the Chelsea team is announced before kick-off at Stamford Bridge these days, but not against Crystal Palace.
The anticipation around his full Premier League debut was such that Christopher Nkunku’s name was greeted with a full-throated roar — the kind that carried more than a whiff of “please save us”.
He could not quite do that but, in 71 minutes as he rebuilds his fitness, Nkunku did manage to show how he can elevate a frequently underwhelming Chelsea attack. The signature moment was his contribution to the opening goal of the game: a flash of typically understated brilliance that broke open the Palace defence.
Checking his forward run to capitalise on Nathaniel Clyne’s slip and receive Malo Gusto’s underhit pass, he rolled the ball under his foot and then tried to thread a ball through a tight gap to Mykhailo Mudryk. Joachim Andersen’s outstretched boot sent the ball spinning back to him and in one sharp motion, without even lifting his head, Nkunku chopped the ball left into the stride of an overlapping Gusto, freezing four Palace defenders and taking them out of the game.
Gusto crossed low for Mudryk to tap in, but Nicolas Jackson could just as easily have finished the move; Nkunku’s pass had put Marc Guehi, Palace’s last line of outfield defence, in an almost hopeless situation — and it worked so well because he did not need to look at Gusto from the moment the ball reached him.
There will be many more obvious moments of elite skill in the Premier League this season but in terms of spatial awareness, football IQ, speed of thought and technical execution, it was top-tier and it encapsulated what Chelsea have been sorely lacking in the final third during a miserable first half of the season. “Christopher Nkunku is still far away from his best,” head coach Mauricio Pochettino said after the 2-1 win. “He needs time. But he is a very intelligent player who can connect things.”
Nkunku, 26, is not the answer to Chelsea’s glaring No 9 problem, even if he is adept at popping up in conventional striker positions to score (as Wolverhampton Wanderers found out in the closing minutes of their 2-1 victory over Pochettino’s team on Christmas Eve). He is something less orthodox and more interesting than that: a highly skilled and versatile forward capable of starting, linking or finishing moves who greatly increases the possibilities for dangerous combinations in the final third.
That much was clear in pre-season, when Nkunku used his starting position on the left wing to create space for the overlapping Ben Chilwell while combining fluidly with Jackson and Carney Chukwuemeka. Injuries across the board have transformed Pochettino’s team almost beyond recognition since, but Nkunku, who was signed from RB Leipzig in a deal worth more than €60million (£52.7m, $58.8m), has been the most significant loss to a team lacking experience.
In a promising first half against Palace, there were signs that Nkunku’s residual chemistry with Jackson — whose performance was much improved despite a big chance missed — has survived his spell on the sidelines. Even more encouragingly, here he threatened in tandem with Mudryk’s explosive darts in from the left flank, rather than simply taking his spot in the team.
Nkunku’s injury means Chelsea are still in the early days of building these attacking relationships. Fitness must come first; he was withdrawn after 71 minutes but looked physically incapable of elevating himself and others after half-time. Pochettino’s words of praise for the France forward’s display after the match were understandably measured as a result.
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“There were a few actions that were very good, but the volume of actions we need to repeat much more,” Pochettino said. “It’s not only one, two, three, four in 45 minutes. We need him to be more involved. But it’s normal. It’s his first 70 minutes, he was a little tired and struggled a bit after 45 minutes. He needs time, he needs to play games to start to find himself, adapt to the team and the players are going to connect with him.”
Pochettino dropped the unsurprising hint in his post-match comments that he wants to see Nkunku in the same attacking unit as Cole Palmer, the only other outstanding creative force at Stamford Bridge this season who missed the Palace win due to suspension. But in his absence, Noni Madueke’s match-winning cameo offered hope that Chelsea could yet gain fresh impetus in the final third from another source.
“He played free,” Pochettino said of Madueke. “The difference is he did what we needed in this moment. I like it because he showed he was upset with me. He was disappointed with me because I didn’t play him too much — also because he was injured — and (he thought), ‘Now I’m going to show the coach that he can trust in myself’.”
For the first five months of his tenure, Pochettino has needed to make do with inconsistent attacking units consisting of imperfect parts, and lean heavily on his few semi-reliable options, including Palmer and Raheem Sterling. Now, finally, Nkunku’s return from injury gives him a roadmap towards sufficient firepower, regardless of whether or not a new striker arrives in January.
That does not necessarily make Nkunku the saviour Stamford Bridge is crying out for, but there is a good chance he can be the spark for something better.
(Top photo: Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
