Mauricio Pochettino highlights his Christopher Nkunku ‘worry’ as injury return awaits vs Newcastle

Mauricio Pochettino asks Chelsea fans to not burden Christopher Nkunku with expectations

Mauricio Pochettino has advised supporters not to place too much faith in Christopher Nkunku, who returned from a long-term knee injury and was in the squad but was an unused substitute in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United.

The West Londoners will face Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup quarterfinal, and this time the Frenchman will have a better opportunity of making his long-awaited Chelsea debut. Surely, we have waited enough.

The Blues have been careful with Nkunku’s recovery and want to give him as much time as possible to recuperate from his knee injury. And Pochettino has confirmed that the former RB Leipzig star could feature against the Magpies.

Mauricio Pochettino asks Chelsea fans to not burden Christopher Nkunku with expectations. (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)
Pochettino has urged the fans to not keep too much faith on Christopher Nkunku. (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)

There are high expectations for the Frenchman to change the club’s recent poor form, as they sit in 10th place in the Premier League table, but the Argentine manager has already told the fans not to be heavily dependent on the Frenchman, (h/t ESPN) and said:

“This is my worry: to put too much pressure on him and say, Oh, now that he’s arrived, he’s going to make us win every single game and change everything.’ I don’t believe it is going to be like this because he now needs time to recover his feelings.

Mauricio Pochettino is right.

Pochettino’s remarks make sense because we can’t rely too much on a single player to turn around the team’s dismal performance. Although he is a quality player, it will take him a few games to establish himself after recovering from a serious injury.

Mauricio Pochettino asks Chelsea fans to not burden Christopher Nkunku with expectations.
Pochettino says Christopher Nkunku can make his debut vs Newcastle.

It’s clear that he won’t play for enough minutes since Pochettino wants him to gain fitness first. After he feels totally capable of playing a full 90 minutes, we can anticipate him starting every game, but that will be too soon.

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Being an experienced player, he will undoubtedly look to make a first impression, as his technical abilities will greatly benefit us and provide the finishing finesse in front of goal that our young strikers have been lacking.