Garth Crooks has questioned the decision from Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino not to start Raheem Sterling against Crystal Palace last night.
Chelsea recorded an important 3-1 away win in the Premier League fixture, but it took a late boost in stoppage time to settle things at Selhurst Park.
The Blues were heading for a frustrating draw at Palace until Conor Gallagher made it 2-1 in the 91st minute with his second goal of the game. Afterwards, Enzo Fernandez added a third to secure three points.
BBC pundit Garth Crooks has suggested Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino should have started Raheem Sterling versus Palace. Instead, the 29-year-old winger only came on as a substitute in the 79th minute.
The English speedster did play a key role in the build up to Gallagher’s match-winning goal, sliding through a pass on the counter-attack to Cole Palmer, who teed up the goalscorer on the edge of the box.
Crooks told BBC Sport: “Chelsea’s FA Cup victory over Aston Villa last midweek was impressive, but I wasn’t convinced they could repeat the same performance against Crystal Palace in the league. For 45 minutes I was right. Chelsea were slow, laborious and altogether dull, and Palace deserved their first-half lead. Suddenly Raheem Sterling comes on and Chelsea find a spark and a rhythm to their game. Gallagher and Cole Palmer start to come alive and you start to ask yourself: why wasn’t Sterling on the park from the start?”
Raheem Sterling against Crystal Palace
Yes, Sterling made a useful contribution off the bench to help Chelsea earn three points.
The £50 million attacker (Daily Mail) has the kind of talent and experience that most of his teammates at Stamford Bridge.
However, we’ve got to disagree with Crooks on his latest claim!
We feel Sterling’s form has dropped recently and he’s playing nowhere near his best, so dropping him to the bench for the last couple of matches has been a timely wake-up call.
Max from LondonsFirst claimed last month that some at Chelsea feel like Sterling isn’t doing enough in his performances.
Hopefully, he can enjoy a strong end to the season to prove his value to his squad. We think the extra competition now more players are back from injury is only a good thing for him.