Christian Pulisic is available for Chelsea’s trip on Saturday to face defending Premier League champions, Manchester City.
After missing a pair of U.S. Men’s National Team matches this month against Canada and Cuba with a hip injury, Pulisic returned to full training this week for the Blues. The 21-year-old is aiming to become the first American player to score in four consecutive league matches on Saturday,
‘”He didn’t go and we had full communications with the USA national team, their manager and medical team because I like to be really open and transparent with that,’ Lampard said of Pulisic in his pre-match press conference.
“I respect that they want their players but he had a problem going into the last game against Palace and he was struggling, hence why he came off after his goal. We had good communication and he missed the two games but he’s started to train again this midweek so he’s in contention to play.”
Pulisic suffered the hip injury in the sequence leading to his goal in Chelsea’s win against Crystal Palace, which saw him head home his fifth goal in three Premier League matches, before sliding into the goal post hip-first.
With two weeks to recover during the international break, Pulisic is now a candidate to start on Saturday for a Chelsea side that will be without Callum Hudson-Odoi, who picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty with England.
Pulisic is seeking to become the first American player to score in four consecutive Premier League matches. He is currently tied with Clint Dempsey for most consecutive Premier League matches with a goal, at three.
Pulisic’s absence didn’t stop the U.S. Men’s National Team from posting a pair of November victories, 4-1 against Canada and 4-0 against Cuba, to secure first place in its Nations League group, and a place in the Nations League semifinals. The Americans will face Honduras in the semifinals in June.
Pulisic won’t return to the USMNT setup until March at the earliest, when the Americans are expected to play a pair of friendlies in Europe against high-level competition.
Did anyone else notice that Willian had a few chances to pass to CP during the Man city game and seemed to want to send the ball to anyone but CP?
He had good through balls to Abraham and batishuai and the didn’t make much on them. Pulisic is groing and today he should well vs top team in the world.
City showed quality; pressed high and dominated the game. The competition wasn’t as close as the final score suggested.
Also watched the highlights of the Bayern Munich and Dusseldorf game. The 2nd Bayern goal was a real stinker. I wonder when Steffen is going to learn to exercise common sense to just get rid of the ball instead of forcing it to build from the back (exact mistake as in the 0-3 Mexico loss) and gifted the opponent an easy goal.
Worked out perfectly. Got the wins and CP rested for City.
Him be ready for City was more important to the USMNT than playing in those garbage games. If he continues his form vs City, sky’s the limit this season.
He had a nick that was better served resting, being under the care of team PTs rather than flying all over the globe, playing in meaningless Nations League matches. For sure that serves Pulisic… and Chelsea…. and even the US ants long term.
wow
that was a quick injury
It was about two weeks thirteen days to be exact. That is plenty of time for someone to recover running into a goal post. 500 MG ibuprofen, magic spray, and rest. It sounds right.