Christian Pulisic scored his first Chelsea goal of 2021, but his second start under Thomas Tuchel was cut short by an apparent injury.
Pulisic scored for Chelsea for the first time in almost four months, delivering the opener in a 5-2 home loss to West Bromwich Albion. The U.S. Men’s National Team star scored in the 27th minute off a rebound following a free kick to record his first Chelsea goal since a Dec. 5 finish against Leeds United.
The winger was subbed off at halftime on Saturday, with Chelsea trailing 2-1 and down a man after a 29th minute Thiago Silva red card. Video replays showed Pulisic running onto the field with the rest of the Chelsea lineup after the break, only to turn around and tell head coach Thomas Tuchel that the American was dealing with some sort knock. Tuchel proceeded to insert Mason Mount as a replacement.
NBCSN had footage of what happened with Pulisic’s sub at half. He ran 10 yards to a cone, complained about his hamstring and Tuchel did not look happy about it pic.twitter.com/TtSeb7BbP7
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) April 3, 2021
The Blues eventually went on to suffer a 5-2 loss, the first loss of Tuchel’s tenure as Chelsea manager. The defeat cut into Chelsea’s hold on a top-four spot in the English Premier League.
Making just his second start since the German replaced Frank Lampard, Pulisic opened the scoring near the hour-mark after he raced onto a loose ball following a set piece and bundled home his second Premier League goal of the season.
Christian Pulisic tucks one home for Chelsea! #MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/Ilx7cVmGpt
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 3, 2021
Silva’s ejection just two minutes later changed the game, though, and Chelsea went into halftime trailing 2-1.
Pulisic’s goal marked his second in a week, following his converted penalty kick for the USMNT in a 2-1 win vs. Northern Ireland last Sunday. Pulisic played the full 90 minutes against Northern Ireland as the Americans’ captain.
The 22-year-old attacker’s apparent new injury issue comes at a busy time for Chelsea, which kicks off its UEFA Champions League quarterfinal series with FC Porto on Wednesday. It is also the latest knock in a season in which he has struggled to stay healthy.
Pulisic has made 11 league starts in 20 appearances this season for Chelsea, but Saturday’s start was just his second under Tuchel. His availability for Chelsea’s upcoming matches is in question now, including a looming FA Cup semifinal against Manchester City on April 17.
just shut him down already and take 6 months off and LET IT HEAL
Yeah……….. frustrating as it can be-my view has been that not starting could be a blessing in disguise for his long term career. He has to get himself completely healed. Being a fierce competitor- continually fighting his way back early, continually compensating for pain can lead to muscle imbalance- and clearly has instigated a cascade of compensatory injuries. You’re not careful and one can be a really nasty one. He needs to settle, get himself fully right. When healthy- he is a phenom. When healthy. First things first.
More injuries than goals per minute.
Hopefully it was precautionary and he’ll be back on the team sheet in just two weeks or so. Down a man and behind, whether he stayed in or not, they weren’t going to get anything out of that game.
https://www.transfermarkt.us/timo-werner/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/170527/wettbewerb/GB1/saison/2020
You are wrong. Timo has scored more.
CP won the free kick that led to his goal. Makes perfect sense to sub the guy that scored a hard working goal at halftime. Werner did wonderful, once again.
Correct me if my data search is wrong. Werner and Pulisic are tied at 1 for 2021 epl goals. The goal per min ratio comparison would be fun….
Pulisic subbed himself out. You could see it on the video. Hamstring apparently. Again.
Werner was supposed to come off at the half but he had to stay on when Pulisic hurt his hamstring jogging 5 yards. At least Timo passed the ball to Mount for the second goal instead of skying it from 5 yards out.