Christian
Pulisic made a sensational statement with his perfect hat-trick at Burnley -
and is now aiming to kick on with Chelsea after previously struggling to
battle into Frank Lampard's first-team plans.
The American was handed his first league start since August at Turf Moor on
Saturday night and seized his chance, becoming Chelsea's youngest-ever
Premier League hat-trick scorer in the visitors' 4-2 win.
After months on the fringes and fighting for game time, the 21-year-old,
£57.6m signing from Borussia Dortmund could not hide his delight after the
full-time whistle.
"It's unreal," Pulisic told Sky Sports. "What a day for me. I'm even happier
with the result. I wish we could have got a clean sheet but in the end
that's a special day for me.
"The first few months were definitely hard. I had a few starts early in the
season but then I fell out a bit where I was just trying to get any minutes
that I could to make an impact.
"But in the last few weeks I was able to show that again, that I was helping
the team coming in. I think they saw that and gave me a start today.
"I didn't think it was going to happen right away. Coming into a big club
like this it takes time. I'm happy with the progress I've made so far and
I'm just going to keep going from here."
Pulisic's stats
- Christian Pulisic has scored his first Chelsea goal on his 10th appearance
across all competitions for the club.
- Only Tammy Abraham (10) has been involved in more goals for Chelsea in all
competitions this season than Christian Pulisic (8 - 3 goals and 5 assists).
- Christian Pulisic is the first American to score a PL brace since Clint
Dempsey in April 2012 (Fulham vs Bolton).
- Christian Pulisic became Chelsea's youngest hat-trick scorer in Premier
League history (21y 38d), while he also became the first player to net a
'perfect' league hat-trick for the Blues since Didier Drogba against Wigan
in May 2010.
Where's Pulisic been?
Pulisic's superb hat-trick begs the question: why hasn't he started more
games for Chelsea?
The American has been on the bench for Chelsea's last five Premier League
games and was an unused substitute in September's clashes with Wolves,
Valencia and Liverpool.
He was then left out of Chelsea's squad altogether for the Champions League
trip to Lille at the start of October amid rumours Lampard was unhappy with
his work at the club's Cobham training base.
The attacker's absence had drawn plenty of attention, with Chelsea
supporters imploring Lampard to give Pulisic more game time on social media,
while Pulisic himself publicly stated his frustration at missing out. "Of
course it is very frustrating," he told NBC Sports after watching his
team-mates win 2-0 at home to Brighton. "But I will continue to work my
hardest because I want to play."
Pulisic indicated he had been told by Lampard to work harder in training.
"He said I have to improve myself in training and try to get back in the
line-up," Pulisic added. "It is not going to be easy here but it was never
going to be easy."
It seems Lampard began to see the signs he was looking for from Pulisic
after that exclusion in Lille, and the former Dortmund man has seized his
opportunities off the bench in recent weeks, recording assists during short
cameos against Southampton and Ajax, with his 25-minute spell in Amsterdam
on Wednesday convincing his manager to play him from the start at Turf Moor.
Competition for places
Pulisic's cause was not helped by the fact Chelsea have a selection of
talented wide attackers at their disposal, with Callum Hudson-Odoi, Willian
and Pedro vying for similar roles.
"In the wide areas for Chelsea there's more fighting for places than
anywhere else in the team," said former Chelsea defender Frank Sinclair.
"When he does come into the team he has to affect games, he has to keep
something in the manager's mind to get him picked next week - and with his
perfect hat-trick he's done well for himself tonight."
'A breakthrough moment'
Now the challenge is for Willian, Hudson-Odoi and Pedro to prove they
deserve to start ahead of Pulisic.
For Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp, Pulisic's performance at Burnley will
be the launchpad for him to become a key player for Lampard and Chelsea.
"It's not been easy. Whatever way you dress it up, the expectation of £50m
and for him to come in straight away [was there]," said Redknapp.
"But today felt like a breakthrough moment for him. It's not that easy when
you come to a new league and as a young man. But you can see the confidence
he's got and the quality he possesses.
"Now it's onwards and upwards for him."
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