Romelu Lukaku started his second spell at Chelsea with a bang. If you’d checked a site like bonuscodebets after his debut against Arsenal, you would have seen the striker at pretty short odds to be Premier League top scorer for the season. A few blank weeks have seen him sink way back to the pack however, and you’d get great odds betting on him now. There are 7 players ahead of his 3 goals, and ten level with him.
Not only did he score on his debut against Arsenal, he also looked totally dominant in that game. At times the Gunners had no answers to his strength and movement around the box, and he was able to pin their central defenders time after time to receive passes from the channel.
It all made things look rather rosy for the season to come – we’d taken a team which had been unbelievably defensively solid and added a goal machine to the front line. But so far, it hasn’t worked out as well as we might have hoped.
Since then Lukaku hasn’t looked nearly as dominant, and the rest of the team have actually really struggled to get the ball to him in dangerous areas at all. What looked like it might be a “plug and play” success story for the former Inter Milan forward now looks like it might be longer and tougher journey than anticipated.
While he’s brilliant at what he does, his style is very different to the Kai Havertz / Timo Werner options the team had up front last season. They didn’t score as many as you’d like, but the whole team tactic was built around using them, and things were pretty settled by the time Havertz was scoring in the Champions League final.
By May, things will have all shaken out, and we’re sure that the Belgium forward will be right back at the top, battling Harry Kane and the other best players in the division for the Golden Boot – it’s just going to take a little time for the rest of the squad to adjust to playing the way he wants, and playing the way that gets the best out of him.
So if you’re going to stake any money on it – this is your best chance, while he’s lurking way down the rankings. Once Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante are back starting and the team learn how to get Lukaku involved more effectively, he’s going to shoot up the charts.
