United States star winger Christian Pulisic finally managed to end his goalscoring drought for Chelsea, netting in a 2-5 loss to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. This was his first goal under new manager Thomas Tuchel and also first since early December.
Pulisic actually opened the scoring, getting Chelsea in the lead in the 27th minute. After a free kick from left-back Marcos Alonso hit the post, the 22-year-old American collected the deflection and delivered a calm finish.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, things went downhill from there. Less than a minute later, Brazilian center-back Thiago Silva made a reckless tackle and earned himself a red card, leaving his team with 10 players. WBA used the opportunity and immediately struck back, scoring two before halftime.
Pulisic couldn’t help Chelsea found its way back, as he had to leave early as well because of an injury. He was substituted before the start of the second half after complaining about his hamstring.
The 2-1 lead obviously wasn’t enough for WBA, as they continued to attack and scored three more. Chelsea, on the other hand, didn’t do much and managed to add just one more thanks to Mason Mount.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Tuchel detailed the decision to substitute Pulisic.
“Christian did a sprint when he came back out for the second half and said that he felt his hamstring would not survive the game if he continued,” said Tuchel. “So we had to make the decision to substitute him straight away.”
While Premier League giants didn’t detail the full extent of Pulisic’s injury, he will reportedly be out for at least a week and is set to miss the upcoming Champions League clash against FC Porto.
Christian Pulisic has been dealing with injuries often since arriving at Chelsea in 2019, and it has been the same story this season. He was out for several weeks on multiple occasions, which caused him to have a hard time breaking into the starting lineup or playing extended minutes.
Pulisic played 29 games in 2020-21 in all competitions but clocked only 1.567 minutes on the field. He scored three goals and has two assists.
