With an away win at Fulham FC, Chelsea FC also stopped the negative run in the Premier League. Mykhailo Mudryk (22) and Armando Broja (21) played the starring roles as they repaid their coach’s faith.
“Believe me, Mudryk is really trying hard to integrate,” Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino had said on Monday morning at the press conference before the away game at Fulham FC. The Blues are “very pleased” with how the 22-year-old is developing – even though he has yet to score a goal for Chelsea.
Pochettino: “Young people need time “
That was no longer the case last night as the Ukrainian scored to give the visitors an interim 1-0 lead in a 2-0 win at Craven Cottage. After making his competitive debut on 21 January this year (0-0 at Liverpool), Mudryk, who moved to London from Shakhtar Donetsk at the beginning of the year for a base fee of around €70 million, has waited over eight months for his first goal for Chelsea FC.
A long time, which coach Pochettino explains in particular with the “adjustment” on and off the pitch: “We have to understand that young people need time and have to get used to it,” said the Argentine. “It was a big adjustment when Mudryk arrived here and when you come to a team it’s not easy to settle in a team that is not solid.” The signing meant the winger was not “the cherry on top of the icing on the cake” but was expected to go straight into “the big job” of taking on a carrying role at the struggling Londoners, which could now work out after a delay.
Mudryk questionable – Broja scores again after just under a year
Whether Mudryk will be able to follow up his debut goal as early as the next away game at Burnley (Saturday, 4pm) is still in doubt. The 22-year-old had “felt something in his thigh that we need to investigate and didn’t feel comfortable to continue playing”, explained Pochettino, who took the Ukrainian off at the break. “We hope it’s not a big problem and he can be available again on Saturday,” the coach said.
On the other hand, there is probably nothing standing in the way of Armando Broja, who also ended a long drought with his goal for the 2-0 final score. In contrast to Mudryk, Broja was substituted in the 65th minute “only out of precaution”, as he himself confirmed after the match. The 21-year-old striker had last scored at the beginning of October 2022 in a 3-0 win over Wolves – a torn cruciate ligament forced him to take a long break afterwards. The fact that the Blues’ own youngster was able to add his first goal of the season on Tuesday night in his first starting appearance of the season “is just an unbelievable feeling. There’s no better feeling than getting three points and scoring. “
