It took Christian Pulisic all of five minutes to change the game for Chelsea against Aston Villa.
Pulisic didn’t start the match, but he came on as a substitute in the 55th minute with Chelsea down 1-0 and had them level within five minutes of stepping on the pitch.
Christian Pulisic makes the instant impact for Chelsea, coming off the bench to score the equalizer for Chelsea, which has jumped ahead of Aston Villa now, 2-1. #USMNT
— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) June 21, 2020
Pulisic made a run at the far post to get onto a Cesar Azpilicueta cross on the doorstep to bang the ball home. It was his sixth Premier League goal of the season and his seventh in all competitions since joining Chelsea last summer.
Pulisic’s 2020 calendar year has been about as bad as anyone’s as injuries have gotten in the way of playing time. Sunday’s action against Aston Villa was his first appearance since New Years’ Day, when he played 66 minutes against Brighton. He then suffered an abductor injury that was originally thought to be minor, but kept getting worse.
The coronavirus pandemic gave him the time to recover and he clearly benefited from the time off.
The goal jump started the Blues, who had been struggling to get much going against Aston Villa. Olivier Giroud give them the lead just three minutes after Pulisic levelled the score at one. Villa did have one close call in the closing moments of the game, but Chelsea managed to hold on to the 2-1 victory. They sit in fourth place in the Premier League on 51 points, five clear of Manchester United in fifth place with eight games remaining.
The announcer said it was Pulisic’s 7th goal in all competition. Whatever, considering his relatively limited playing time and the fact that he is new to the league, this has been a very good Premier League start for CP 22.
10/26 Burnley 3 goals
11/2 Watford 1 goal
11/9 C. Pal. 1 goal
11/27 Valencia 1 goal (CL)
6/21 A. Villa. 1 goal
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Assists: 2 CL, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 2 EPL, 1 League Cup= 6 total
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2020 7g 6a 24 matches 1,611 minutes
2019 7g 6a 30 matches 1,701 minutes
2018 5g 7a 42 matches 3,038 minutes
2017 5g 13a 43 matches 2,323 minutes
2016 2g 0a 12 matches 433 minutes
By comparison, Dempsey at Tottenham had 7 goals in the Premier League and 6 assists in 29 games his one year there. Tottenham was pretty comparable to Chelsea now. Dempsey was rather hampered in that he was playing with Bale during his monster year and Jermaine Defoe. Once either of those guys got the ball, they rarely gave it up except under great duress. Still, considering Dempsey was at the height of his career and Pulisic is early in his, CP 22’s statistics are pretty impressive.