There were 3 Chelsea players in the WhoScored team of the week after the Blues battered Everton at home.
Cole Palmer was of course in the mix with his four goals, as were midfield monster Conor Gallagher and striker Nicolas Jackson. All of those are rather obvious choices. But there was one outlier too.
You could have been forgiven for forgetting left back Marc Cucurella, given the festival of goals going on at the other end of the pitch. But he had a really solid game, and picked up the assist for Jackson’s goal when he dug out a cross from all the way by the corner flag.
This kind of games suited him – lots of big open spaces and Everton runners for him to get stuck into, not too much intricate attacking play from the opposition to catch him out.
It’s a nice moment for Cucurella, who has been important since returning from ankle surgery. He’s had to play a lot of games since that, but has not shown signs of fatigue and has stepped up for his team.
Chilwell’s return
Ironically, this could be Cucurella’s last appearance for a while. Ben Chilwell proved his fitness in the closing minutes by coming on as a sub, and the England international now has all week to continue impressing and get a start against Man City on Saturday.
It will be a tough call for Pochettino however. Cucurella did well last night, and has had some decent games for this manager. Chilwell certainly had established himself as number one before his latest injury, but there’s no telling what Pochettino’s thinking will be now. He may prefer to keep some consistency in the back line, and hope that helps fix some of our defensive problems.
It’s one of the more interesting selection dilemmas to follow this week.
