Chelsea have a great opportunity to return to the top four when they play Leicester City Sunday afternoon.
Following Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, victory at Stamford Bridge would see Enzo Maresca‘s men move up to fourth in the Premier League table.
Pedro Neto has been playing as a striker of late, so you would expect him to start against Leicester.
Maresca, though, has still found space in his team for Christopher Nkunku, who really needs to deliver if he also gets the nod at the Bridge.
Photo by Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Photo by Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Christopher Nkunku should be punishing Leicester
Losing nine of their last 10 games in the Premier League, Leicester are on one of the worst runs the division has probably ever seen.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men are conceding for fun, letting in four goals against Brentford and another four versus Everton last month.
If you are an attacker like Nkunku, you should be licking your lips right now. A forward of his calibre should be making light work of the Foxes.
MORE CHELSEA STORIES
In fact, being one of Chelsea’s highest earners, Nkunku should be getting the job done against a lot of teams, but the 27-year-old has not been.
Injuries have hampered him, but Nkunku is fit again and has been for a while. He now needs a goal and good performance Sunday afternoon. If the Frenchman cannot deliver against an outfit as bad as Leicester, then who is he going to perform against?
At this stage, a poor performance, and Chelsea should probably consider selling him. Bayern Munich are desperate to sign Nkunku after trying to bring the former RB Leipzig star to the Allianz Arena in January, so that is one potential destination this summer.
Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
Christopher Nkunku ‘non-existent’ against Brighton last month
There were a couple of games in February where former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino was not too impressed with Nkunku.
The France international started in his side’s two losses to Brighton & Hove Albion, putting in performances Cascarino described as “non-existent”.
When Cascarino spoke about Nkunku‘s displays after the two games, he said: “Nkunku, I’m sorry, you’re carrying him as a centre-forward.
“I had no idea why Maresca selected him after the performance he put in in the cup game against Brighton. He was non-existent. And what did we see last night? Exactly the same performance. I will give him one benefit of the doubt: he is not a centre-forward.”
With Nicolas Jackson out injured, Nkunku has been getting an opportunity in the team. He now needs to start taking it.