Thomas Tuchel is finally giving Christian Pulisic some playing time and the American is responding. Pulisic scored twice in a rampaging 4-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, his second straight Premier League appearance with at least one goal.
Pulisic hasn’t had the start to Tuchel’s tenure that most Americans were hoping for. Despite having been at Borussia Dortmund together, Pulisic has struggled to make it into Chelsea’s lineup under the German, completely missing three straight games in February and being used primarily off the bench in other matches. Saturday’s match against Crystal Palace marked the first time Pulisic started three straight Premier League games under Tuchel, and for the for the second straight start the American responded with a goal.
Pulisic scored but then came off at halftime with a hamstring injury in a shocking 5-2 loss to West Brom last week. He featured for 25 minutes off the bench in the 2-0 shutout of Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday and was handed another start against Palace on Saturday.
The American made good on his start by supplying the second in a three-goal, first-half onslaught from Chelsea, beating Vicente Guaita with a powerful near-post shot.
¡¡GOLAZAZO DE CHRISTIAN PULISIC!!
El futbolista estadounidense se reencuentra con el gol en la #LigaPremierTD... ¡Y DE QUE MANERA, DE ZUUUURDA!Crystal Palace 0-2 Chelsea pic.twitter.com/N1v3IJarVS
— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) April 10, 2021
The goal made it 2-0 after just 10 minutes as Chelsea was running rampant early. Kai Havertz scored in the eighth minute and Kurt Zouma made it 3-0 after 30 minutes.
Christian Benteke pulled one back for Palace midway through the second half but Pulisic restored the three-goal advantage with his second, flying in at the back post to complete his first multi-goal game since netting a hat trick against Burnley in 2019.
¡EL CAPITÁN AMÉRICAAAAAA!
Crystal Palace 1-4 Chelsea#LigaPremierTD pic.twitter.com/bWkS323DAu
— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) April 10, 2021
Pulisic now has four Premier League goals this season. Conveniently for U.S. fans, Pulisic’s first goal was scored before the USWNT-Sweden game kicked off and his second came during halftime of the friendly.
In the end, it was a comfortable win for the Blues, who jumped past Liverpool and West Ham into fourth place with the three points.
