Christian Pulisic may not have started for Chelsea on Wednesday, but he still did enough to catch Graham Potter’s eye.
Pulisic came on in the 61st minute of what turned out to be a scoreless draw with Brentford. Though Chelsea ended up frustrated, Pulisic helped spark an improvement in the late going, nearly scoring an 89th minute winner only to be denied by a fine save from David Raya.
“I thought (Carney Chukwuemeka) and Christian did well when they came on,” Potter told reporters after the match. “They affected the game.”
The day before the game, Potter said Pulisic is “pushing for a start.” While he didn’t actually give the U.S. men’s national team captain that assignment, Chelsea did improve in the final half-hour with Pulisic — who also set Kai Havertz up for a shot that Raya saved — in the thick of things.
Unbeaten run making change difficult
Based on his performances, Pulisic’s hopes of cracking the starting 11 on a regular basis should be improving. However, Chelsea is unbeaten since Potter took charge, and haven’t even conceded a goal since Crystal Palace scored early in what became a 2-1 win for the Blues back on October 1.
That 533-minute shutout run is a signal that Potter’s choices are working, and his analysis of the talent at his disposal currently seems to list Pulisic as more of a super-sub than a starter. Pulisic scored in his only start under Potter and is making things happen every time he steps on the field for Chelsea, so it’s not like he’s failing to make an argument for himself. It’s just that with the results Chelsea is picking up, there are few reasons for Potter to consider shaking up his current hierarchy.
That said, Chelsea were largely uninspired against Brentford until Pulisic came in. That may move the needle enough that the USMNT star takes on a larger role in these final few weeks before the World Cup gets underway.
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