There may be a player available to Mauricio Pochettino who is shown to be more dependable in front of goal than Harry Kane and Erling Haaland. Last season, the two strikers combined to score 66 Premier League goals, with Haaland finishing an outstanding debut season in England by outscoring his teammate by six goals.
Given their caliber, it makes sense that they have also had an excellent start to the current campaign in front of goal, with each player having already scored eight goals in the league. Chelsea had scored seven fewer league goals as a club before the weekend’s rout of Burnley than both Kane and Haaland combined, further demonstrating their ability to finish.
But things seem to have changed at Stamford Bridge, as the Blues are coming off three straight victories as they enter the October international break. As Armando Broja recovered from a knee injury and Jackson struggled to get going early in the season, it appeared that the Nkunku injury had a significant impact on plans.
Broja received his first start in more than nine months last Monday against Fulham, and the 22-year-old scored in a 2-0 London Derby victory. He started from the beginning against Burnley as a result, although Jackson, who was suspended for the Fulham game, replaced him at halftime in order to improve his match fitness.
The second session saw the Senegal international score his third goal for the Blues and fourth goal overall, demonstrating that both he and Broja can contribute without Nkunku. Frank Leboeuf, a former Chelsea midfielder, holds a different opinion.
“I pray for Nkunku to come back very, very soon because Broja, I’m not convinced yet,” he stated to ESPN FC. And it takes time because he is recovering from an injury. Jackson, yes, he is improving. However, given what I’ve observed of Nkunku over a number of years, the frontline will be really competitive.
While Nkunku may develop into the Chelsea player who scores goals comparable to those of Kane and Haaland, Chelsea already has one on the books. Romelu Lukaku has scored seven goals in eight games since his second consecutive loan move to Serie A, this time with AS Roma, including a brace in the 4-1 victory over Cagliari Calcio on Sunday night.
SportingPedia just identified the 16 top goal scorers from the 2023–24 season, and Lukaku placed among the top five most dependable players thus far. The Belgian striker has a 75% success record in scoring goals in his outings thus far this season, per their research.
Nearer the bottom are Kane and Haaland, with 65% and 41.7%, respectively. Serhou Guirassy of Stuttgart (88%), Jude Bellingham of new team Real Madrid (80%), and attacker Santiago Gimenez of Feyenoord (77.78%) are the only four players who are thought to be more dependable than Lukaku.