Two Players Chelsea Must Drop To Win Against Sheffield United
Chelsea somehow turned around a certain 3-2 defeat to Manchester United in midweek to score two injury-time goals and win the tie 4-3.
Maurico Pochettino will have breathed a huge sigh of relief at securing a win which bolsters their chances of snatching an unlikely European spot for next season.
Despite the win, several Chelsea players didn’t exactly perform well throughout the clash against the Old Trafford side, most notably Marc Cucurealla, who was disappointing during the match.
Marc Cucurella’s game in numbers vs Man United
The left-back started just ten times in the Premier League prior to the clash at Stamford Bridge in midweek, and it showed during a poor display.
The Spaniard was dribbled past on four occasions, while winning five of his 11 ground duels, made two tackles and lost possession 13 times during his spell on the pitch.
No wonder United scored three times with a defensive display as poor as this, while his attacking output was hardly effective either.
Going forward, Cucurella made just one key pass, delivered one unsuccessful cross, failed with his one dribble attempt and saw his only shot fail to hit the target.
It was an uninspired performance on the left side of the defence by the former Brighton and Hove Albion gem and this could perhaps influence Pochettino’s thinking ahead of the clash against Sheffield United today.
It wasn’t just Cucurella who was poor, as Mykhaylo Mudryk struggled to get into the game and provide a decent attacking threat.
Why Mykhaylo Mudryk must be dropped
The Ukrainian winger has scored just six goals across 32 matches this season for the Blues, hardly the output expected of a player who cost £88.5m just over a year ago.
He was deployed in his favoured left-wing position against the Red Devils with the hope of creating chances for Nicolas Jackson.
Throughout his time on the pitch, Mudryk took just 38 touches – three fewer than goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic – while completing only 18 passes, indicating that he failed to really get involved in large spells.
He did succeed with 100% of his dribble attempts while managing three shots in total against United, yet he was successful with just one of his five crosses and made just one key pass.
Mudryk was also careless with the ball, losing possession 11 times while winning just two of his eight duels, indicating that he was easily bullied and brushed off the ball by the United defenders.
Pochettino should drop him to the bench for the clash against the Blades and perhaps bring in Raheem Sterling to the starting XI.
The Englishman came on for the final 20 minutes in place of the Ukrainian, completing 91% of his passes, and it might be time for him to be unleashed in the lineup.
Another three points this afternoon could see Chelsea move further up the table depending on other results and give Pochettino a massive lift heading into the final few weeks of the season.
