Pochettino must ruthlessly drop Chelsea’s weak link after 5/10 display

Chelsea moved up to seventh in the Premier League table with an eye-catching 5-0 win over West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

The Blues are above Manchester United on goal difference, ahead of their clash with Crystal Palace on Monday night, and are two points behind sixth-placed Newcastle United, with three matches left to play.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side are still in with a chance to secure a place in a European competition for the 2024/25 campaign, but it remains to be seen whether they will land in the Europa Conference League or the Europa League.

Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher, and Noni Madueke all scored during the first half to give the team a healthy advantage, before Nicolas Jackson struck twice in the second half to round out the 5-0 win.

The only starter outside of Dorde Petrovic and the back four who was not directly involved in a goal was Mykhailo Mudryk and Pochettino must now ruthlessly ditch the lightweight from the starting XI.

Mykhailo Mudryk’s performance against West Ham

The Ukraine international was selected to start on the left side of the attack for the Blues at Stamford Bridge but failed to showcase his quality in the way that his teammates did.

Moises Caicedo registered an assist, Gallagher scored, Madueke produced a goal and an assist, Palmer scored, and Jackson scored two goals to go along with his assist, as the rest of Chelsea’s midfield and attack outperformed Mudryk.

He did not make the most of his team’s dominance in the game to play with freedom and display his attacking ability by taking players on and trying to make things happen, as the forward ended the match with one attempted dribble.

As you can see in the table above, the 23-year-old attacker did not have much of an impact on the game, with zero ‘big chances’ created and zero goals from 0.34 xG.

GOAL reporter Mark Doyle handed him a match rating of 5/10 and described the winger as the ‘weak link’ once again for the Blues, citing his safe play in possession – passing it backwards too often – as one of the reasons why it was such an underwhelming showing.

Mudryk ended the match with fewer touches (36) than the Chelsea goalkeeper Petrovic (46) and the fewest of any starter in the front for Pochettino, which speaks to his passive mentality during the game as he failed to go out in search of the ball in order to make things happen.

The Argentine head coach must now ditch the winger from the starting XI, as it was the latest disappointing showing in an underwhelming campaign from the young whiz.

Mykhailo Mudryk’s Premier League season in numbers

Pochettino could, perhaps, excuse the odd poor performance if it was surrounded by impressive displays in other games, but that has not been the case for Mudryk.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk speedster has racked up just four goals and two assists in 29 appearances in the Premier League so far this season – an average of one goal or assist every 4.8 games.

In the 2023/24 campaign, the attacker does not rank within the top five in the Chelsea squad for goals, assists, shots per game, or key passes per game, which illustrates his lack of influence in the final third.

He ranks within the bottom 49% of wingers and attacking midfielders in the division for shot-creating actions per 90 (3.63), the bottom 34% for assists (0.13), and the bottom 40% for shots taken per 90 (2.07).

The Chelsea lightweight, who has lost 55% of his duels in the Premier League, has also been far too loose in possession of the ball to be considered a reliable operator.

Mudryk ranks within the bottom 7% of his positional peers in the top-flight for pass accuracy at just 67.3%, which shows that he is one of the most unreliable passers in the league.

His poor form throughout the season, with zero goals and zero assists in his last ten games, is why Pochettino must ditch the ‘weak link’ from the XI next time out against Nottingham Forest next Saturday.

The player Chelsea should replace Mykhailo Mudryk with

Christopher Nkunku made his return from injury off the bench against West Ham and, if fit, should be named in the lineup against the Tricky Trees.

The French forward has missed a staggering 39 matches through various injury issues, with hamstring, hip, and knee problems, and that has restricted his impact in London thus far.

He has only made eight appearances in the Premier League so far, two of which have come as a starter, and has scored two goals from 1.75 xG in that time.

It has possibly been frustrating for Pochettino and supporters that Nkunku has not been more readily available for selection, as two goals from two starts speaks to the untapped potential he has in a Chelsea shirt.

As you can see in the table above, the 26-year-old sensation arrived at Stamford Bridge off the back of a sublime campaign in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig last term.

He was directly involved in 20 goals in 20 league starts, compared to Mudryk’s six involvements in 16 starts in the Premier League this term, and that speaks to his quality and consistency as an attacking player.

Nkunku ranks within the top 19% of forwards in the Men’s Big 5 Leagues and European competitions over the last 365 days for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.53), and the top 6% for Expected Assisted Goals (0.25).

This shows that the former Bundesliga star does have the potential to be a terrific option for Pochettino to call upon if he is fit enough to play from the start next Saturday.

If Nkunku can be selected to line up on the left of the attack, Pochettino must ditch Mudryk from the XI in order to hand the Frenchman an opportunity to shine.