Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has called for patience with Christopher Nkunku after the summer signing from RB Leipzig finally made his debut for the Blues on Tuesday night.
The 26-year-old has been sidelined with a serious knee injury since pre-season and had been working his way back to fitness over the last four months.
Chelsea fans finally got to see the forward in action in the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge as he came off the bench with 20 minutes to play.
A late Mykhailo Mudryk equaliser for the home side saw the game ending 1-1 and Nkunku was one of the Chelsea stars who confidently put his penalty away in the shootout.
Kieran Trippier sent his wide for Newcastle and Matt Ritchie saw his saved by Blues goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic to send Chelsea through 4-2 from the spot.
Pochettino was asked how big a game it was for the likes of Nkunku, Mudryk, who has struggled at the club so far, and Petrovic who is looking to make an impression, and he focussed on the French forward.
“Yes. We are talking about players that are young. Who arrive and suffer an injury, like Christopher,” said Pochettino at a post-match press conference. “Now they meet the team and in the middle of the competition they need time to start to perform and to get the best form and sometimes everyone can judge you have recovered the player, but most important is in which form?”
matro.co.uk reports that the expectation is to see the best Nkunku and we need time for him to perform in the way that we expect. One thing is to be available another is to perform in the way we we expect.
“We will not put too much pressure on him day by day, and push him to arrive as soon as possible at his best to try to help the team,” he added.
Chelsea have three Premier League games before the end of the month as they go to Wolves on Christmas Eve, host Crystal Palace on December 27 and then go to Luton three days later.
Nkunku will hope to be involved across the busy schedule and further endear himself to the Stamford Bridge faithful.
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