By Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor, Abuja
Chelsea’s striker was insignificant in the match against Crystal Palace on Saturday at Selhurst Park.
The player who could not record double-digit touches with the ball continued his lacklustre form with the club in their first premier league match after the Club World Cup event.
Though Chelsea won the match from late Hakim Ziyech’s goal, the club that started the 2021/2022 season in top-flight with a favourite tip for the title, presently struggles to score goals to contend with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.
After the final of the World Club Cup, Romelu Lukaku, who scored the first goal in the 2-1 win against the Brazilian Palmeiras, was expected to have ended his goal drought in Chelsea’s colours.
However, the striker has continued to fail to live up to the humongous amount used in securing his services from the Italian club, Inter Milan, last summer.
From a post-match analysis, Romelu Lukaku recorded the first touch of the afternoon on Saturday after the sound of the whistle to kick start the match.
More so, as the game proceeded, the striker could not get on the ball as he was only able to get a second touch of it until the first half ended.
Furthermore, the player could hardly improve in the second half as his presence was not felt. He ended the match at Selhurst Park with a record of seven touches in his entire 90 minutes of play.
Lukaku’s return to Chelsea in a whopping sum of £97.5m brought great hopes to the club who were already proficient at goal scoring but needed a top striker to compliment the team’s effort but to the dismay of fans, Lukaku shabby performances at the attacking line up have dwindled the club’s goal-scoring campaign.
The former Inter Milan striker who scored 24 Serie A goals in his last stint in Italy has only recorded five goals in 17 Premier League appearances for the club.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s boss Thomas Tuchel while addressing the media in a post-match interview deliberately shelved to respond to questions about the performance of Lukaku in the match.
He said, “I’m not so sure if I have a good answer. I don’t know what it says.
“It says he was obviously not involved and could not make a point today. I am not sure if it says so much about us in general,” he added.
