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Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has urged fans not to expect forward Christopher Nkunku to salvage their season as he prepares to make his competitive debut against Newcastle.
The 26-year-old is yet to feature for Chelsea after undergoing knee surgery on an injury sustained in preseason shortly after completing a £52 million (£72m) summer move from RB Leipzig.
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Nkunku was included in Chelsea’s matchday squad for the first time last weekend but remained an unused substitute as Pochettino’s side secured a 2-0 win over Sheffield United.
However, the France striker has progressed well in training, and Pochettino confirmed he could play some part in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarterfinal clash at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are languishing in 10th place after a poor start to the Premier League season in which they have scored just 28 goals with Pochettino regularly lamenting his side’s finishing.
“This is my worry: to put too much pressure on him and say ‘oh, now 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 feeling,” Pochettino told a news conference on Monday.
“I hope that he starts maybe tomorrow, he plays and scores three goals. And then be consistent. But the most important thing is not to create too much pressure on him because he needs to find himself, feel the competition and then to adapt in a team that was competing in the last four or five months without him.
“That is why we need to be careful because he still didn’t make his debut in the Premier League. You know how tough is the Premier League for every single player that came outside of England.
“The reality was he wasn’t for me a player to be involved after 2-0, I didn’t want to take a risk with him. If tomorrow, because I am seeing today much better than the day before playing Sheffield United, maybe it increases the possibility to be involved.
“How I see [him] today? I can tell you maybe he can play 20 minutes. How I saw him before the game against Sheffield United, in my mind there was 1%, 2% of doubt. That’s why I didn’t want to take a risk. That’s how I explained it to him.”
Nkunku played as a No. 10 at times during preseason and Pochettino said he will not necessarily lead Chelsea’s attack as their main central striker.
“It is how people think but I think we have [Nicolas] Jackson or [Armando] Broja now in full recovery,” Pochettino added. “Nkunku can play No. 9, or No 10, or No. 7, or No. 11.
“Also, there was a question mark, Nkunku, before the start of the season because it is about how the combination was going to be.
“During preseason, we were using a different position and of course this is the moment you can assess and analyse. Now it is a process also that only in the last few weeks, after four, five months out, in a combination that was completely different in preseason than now because the team evolved.
“The situation has changed. It is about now, he how he feels. He needs to feel 100% and to recover his feeling, then how he can help the team, in which position and find a different dynamic or different animation for him to fit and be decisive. That is what everyone expects.”
Pochettino added the club are still waiting to learn whether Reece James requires surgery on a hamstring injury sustained in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at Everton on Dec. 10.