Following his summer acquisition from RB Leipzig, Christopher Nkunku made his Blues debut on Tuesday night. Mauricio Pochettino has asked for patience with the player.
Over the past four months, the 26-year-old has been recovering from a major knee injury that has kept him out of action since the preseason.
With 20 minutes remaining in the Carabao Cup quarterfinal at Stamford Bridge against Newcastle, Chelsea supporters finally got to witness the forward in action. He came off the bench.
The game ended in a 1-1 draw due to a late equalizer by Mykhailo Mudryk for the home team. Nkunku was one of the Chelsea players who dispatched his penalty with confidence in the shootout.
Chelsea won 4-2 thanks to a penalty kick from Matt Ritchie, who had his shot saved by Blues goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, and Kieran Trippier, who missed for Newcastle.
When asked how important the match was for players like Nkunku, the struggling Mudryk, and the trying-to-make-an-impression Petrovic, Pochettino concentrated on the French forward.
‘Yes. We are talking about players that are young. Who arrive and suffer an injury, like Christopher,’ said Pochettino at a post-match press conference. ‘Now they meet the team and in the middle of the competition they need time to start to perform and to get the best form and sometimes everyone can judge you have recovered the player, but most important is in which form?
‘The expectation is to see the best Nkunku and we need time for him to perform in the way that we expect. One thing is to be available another is to perform in the way we we expect.
‘We will not put too much pressure on him day by day, and push him to arrive as soon as possible at his best to try to help the team.’
Chelsea plays three Premier League matches before the end of the month: on Christmas Eve, they go to Wolves; on December 27, they host Crystal Palace; and three days later, they travel to Luton.
Nkunku intends to stay active throughout his hectic schedule in an effort to win over more supporters of Stamford Bridge.