Ian Wright admitted it was a difficult watch to witness Romelu Lukaku being removed after 60 minutes against Arsenal on Wednesday.
Speaking on The Kelly and Wrighty Show, the former Arsenal forward voiced his sadness at seeing Lukaku being sent back to the Chelsea bench, following another underwhelming run-out.
Did Lukaku take his rare chance?
The Belgian international was handed his first Premier League start for two months by Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge the other night.
Supporters will struggle to forget the striker’s last inclusion in the initial league XI.
Lukaku set an unwelcome record away to Crystal Palace by only touching the ball seven times across the entire game.
Whilst he certainly saw more of the action at home to Arsenal, his contribution was pretty much the same.
He struggled to replicate anything like the performance fans were treated to at the Emirates earlier in the season.
On that afternoon, the 28-year-old bullied and bashed Mikel Arteta’s defenders, scoring his first-ever Chelsea goal in the process.
It was man versus boy then, but the roles were reversed in the return fixture.
The demise of the Belgian continues
Rob Holding, Ben White and Gabriel had their uncomfortable moments in mid-week, yet none really caused by Lukaku.
His evening ended shortly after the interval, with Tuchel’s team trailing 3-2.
This led to further inquests into the number nine’s future at the club he joined less than 12 months ago.
If he can’t be trusted to turn a massive match around, will he ever have the manager’s faith?
“I hope not but when you look at that front three – (Kai) Havertz, (Timo) Werner and (Mason) Mount seems like his preferred front three,” said Wright when asked whether Lukaku could leave this summer.
“That was a sad sight for me (Lukaku being taken off), because that said to me that the manager has said ‘well we’re not going to do it with you on the pitch, a £97m player, a player we thought was the missing piece’.
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