Chelsea linked with emergency striker signing in January as Blues leave 18 year old on the bench | OneFootball

Chelsea ended up winning last night’s game against Bournemouth 1-0 thanks to a late winner from Christopher Nkunku. But don’t be fooled – the performance wasn’t good enough.

The Cherries were unlucky not to have scored – and if they had put their first half penalty away, we’d be talking about a very different game.

Enzo Maresca brought on waves of attacking changes in the second half, with Joao Felix, Christopher Nkunku and Jadon Sancho all entering the fray. Yet with his side desperately chasing the goal that would earn them 3 points, Maresca didn’t bring on a proper number 9.

The reason? Well, the only one he has on the bench is 18 year old Marc Guiu, who is more raw even than Nicolas Jackson was when he arrived a year ago. The failure to sign a striker in the summer has left this squad really short in that department, and while Nkunku reminded us all last night that he can score goals, he’s never going to be the sort of out and out striker you want to bring on in those situations. In fact, there were calls for him to play as a number 8 earlier in the game as Chelsea struggled mightily to progress the ball up the pitch.

Christopher Nkunku, Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile, and Marc Guiu celebrate Goal vs Wrexham

Chelsea’s big picture looks a player short – at least

It looks as though this will be the solution for now – hoping the attacking midfielder can get the job done. But any day like yesterday where Nicolas Jackson doesn’t get into the groove is going to prove to turn into a real struggle it seems. It’s no wonder to see reports linking us with a January return for Victor Osimhen at places like Football Insider coming out literally midway through our game.

Let’s just hope we don’t drop too many points by being toothless between now and the window opening.