Mauricio Pochettino was absolutely delighted with the performance of his Chelsea players in their 2-0 win over Tottenham tonight.
Considering the Blues were missing as many as 14 players due to injury, the side very much picked itself at Stamford Bridge tonight.
With problems for the likes of Axel Disasi and Thiago Silva, there was a lot of responsibility on the likes of Alfie Gilchrist to step up in their absence.
In just his second start for the club, he impressed a lot up against some of Spurs’ best players.
Just ahead of him, another player who had a great time of things was Noni Madueke, who was really enjoying himself particularly in the first half.
The Englishman has not always found starts easy to come by since moving to the club for £30m last January, however his recent form has made him very difficult to drop.
He found the net brilliantly last week against Aston Villa, and although he wasn’t on the scoresheet tonight he proved dangerous throughout the evening.
Pochettino amazed by Noni Madueke
Pochettino singled him out for praise after the game, saying he was brilliant at both ends of the pitch.
He said: “Noni Madueke today was amazing, in the way that he helped the full-back. The team in both phases was connected.”
Madueke playing for his place next season
Taking some of the attacking burden off the likes of Cole Palmer has been crucial in making sure the Blues don’t fall into the one man team bracket, and there is a much bigger picture involved when talking about Madueke’s performances.
With another busy summer window to come, he will be looking to prove that he has enough to be considered for a starting role as early as next season, with the returning Omari Hutchinson almost certainly having a say after his excellent campaign in the Championship with Ipswich.