Recently, we’ve highlighted the stellar play of young Englishmen in the Bundesliga, with Jadon Sancho tearing it up at Borussia Dortmund and Reiss Nelson scoring like crazy for Hoffenheim. Perhaps even more surprising: A young Englishman is excelling at Chelsea, as evidenced by the Ruben Loftus-Cheek hat trick on Thursday.
Chelsea, with its ultra-rich owner, doesn’t develop too many young players, often loaning out anyone who can’t help immediately. And only one English player can be considered a regular in Maurizio Sarri’s side: captain Gary Cahill.
So it’s not surprising that Loftus-Cheek, a 22-year-old with nine England caps to his name, has struggled to get game time with the Blues this season, appearing in just two Premier League matches. The midfielder was given a rare start against BATE Borisov in the Europa League on Thursday and repaid the manager’s faith with an impressive three-goal performance in a 3-1 victory.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek's game by numbers vs. BATE Borisov:
103 touches
72 (95%) passes completed
7 take-ons completed
5 shots
4 shots on target
3 chances created
3 goalsShowing exactly what he's capable of. pic.twitter.com/Pf22IA2Wmc
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 25, 2018
The Ruben Loftus-Cheek hat trick started with two goals in the opening eight minutes.
He began with a clinical finish near the penalty spot after some nice work on the wing by the underrated Davide Zappacosta.
Well, that was quick for Chelsea. Ruben Loftus-Cheek scores 2 minutes in
— Bleacher Report Live (@brlive) October 25, 2018
The second came off a corner kick served in by Willian.
Loftus-Cheek just beats out Giroud for the goal pic.twitter.com/siajyftzPN
— Bleacher Report Live (@brlive) October 25, 2018
Neither of the first two goals was particularly special; his third was.
Loftus-Cheek completed his hat trick when the ball fortuitously bounced to him just outside the 18-yard box. Without taking a touch, the 6-3 No. 12 perfectly placed the ball into the far side netting to make it 3-0.
And there it is. Ruben Loftus-Cheek completes his first hat trick for Chelsea
— Bleacher Report Live (@brlive) October 25, 2018
The Ruben-Loftus-Cheek hat trick gave the Englishman three goals in 54 minutes. He had two goals in his first 35 appearances with the London club. He now has as many goals as Alvaro Morata has for Chelsea this season.
While BATE pulled one back in the 79th minute through Aleksey Rios, this was a match Chelsea dominated. The Blues amassed 69 percent possession and outshot the visitors 23-5 at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea now leads Group L with nine points through three matches and looks like a shoe-in for the knockout stages. The Blues will hope this sparks a strong run of form over the coming weeks, with a lenient schedule featuring Burnley, Derby County (Carabao Cup), Crystal Palace and BATE in the next month before back-to-back matches against Everton and Tottenham either side of the November international break.
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