Chelsea’s Noni Madueke has sent out a message lately with his much improved performances, but one of his teammates has missed a huge opportunity to do the exact same thing.
It’s been the same familiar faces of Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher carrying the Blues this campaign, accompanied by purple patches from Nicolas Jackson and an unsung role from Moises Caiciedo.
However, we feel like Noni Madueke has properly stepped up recently and raised his own levels.
You can see from three goals and two assists in his last six league matches that Madueke is impacting the XI during this run of starts. On top of that, the right-winger looks direct and a serious attacking threat when he’s got the ball at his feet.
While Noni Madueke has shone, Chelsea teammate has wasted chance
In our view, Mykhailo Mudryk has wasted a huge opportunity to show people how good he can actually be.
Unlike Madueke, Mudryk’s not been able to make the most of his extended run in the starting XI, with Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino a bit short on attacking options due to injury.
Mudryk has started in seven of Chelsea’s previous eight league matches, but we don’t think he’s been able to make the kind of impact he would have wanted. He couldn’t have asked for a better run to stamp his authority in the side. He’s still very much a work in progress, though.
The left-winger, who’s got the kind of blistering pace that defences fear, is completely missing the end product. In fact, he’s got zero goals and zero assists in his last eight appearances. This comes at a time when teammates around him are scoring pretty freely, too.
Mykhailo Mudryk competition
With Christopher Nkunku and Raheem Sterling returning to Chelsea’s matchday squad for Sunday’s 5-0 win over West Ham, the competition for places on the wing may be cranked up for the remaining three matches of the season.
Based on his lack of impact, Mudryk can have no complaints if he drops out of the starting XI again.
The Ukraine speedster only has six goals all season for his club at a ratio of 316 minutes per goal (BBC).
Here’s a list of players in the Chelsea squad with a better minutes per goal rate this season: