Noni Madueke started his 5th game in a row for Chelsea on Saturday. That’s the first time he’s reached that mark since joining from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023.
Before that, he had played 3 times off the bench too, so he’s now up to 8 appearances in a row. Finally, a little consistency in selection for him. We’ve been very critical of his performances overall since he arrived at the club, but being denied the chance to play consistently hasn’t helped him.
Against Villa he really made an impact, playing his best game for a while and then scoring the goal that brought us back into the game. It still was something of a patchy showing, but as a wide player whose main job is to take risks and take players on, there are bound to be frustrations in any game.
More to come
It’s great news for Noni that he’s had these 8 successive appearances, but we’re not getting too ahead of ourselves just yet. His performance in most of them was very quiet, and we’re sure there’s still much more to come from him. 4 goals and an assist in 700 minutes in the league this season isn’t bad, but could still be so much better.
The end of this season feels like it could be decisive for his Chelsea future. So far he’s largely been poor, but he’s now built up some form and some trust from Mauricio Pochettino. With Enzo Fernandez out for the season, the system will continue to see Conor Gallagher dropped deeper to replace him, and Cole Palmer switched centrally to fill in for Gallagher. That creates space on the right wing for Madueke, and as long as he keeps performing, Pochettino will keep picking him.
This final run of games, if he does well, should guarantee he remains an important part of our plans for next year.
