Mauricio Pochettino has spoken to Chelsea’s official app about his decision to start Raheem Sterling over Mykhailo Mudryk.
The coach has insisted that Sterling has just come back from a virus and is ready to go. The former Liverpool man played well earlier in the season, and should be highly motivated to try and win his place back.
“Raheem comes in after overcoming a recent virus and we know what he can offer us from the start,” the Chelsea boss said.
“We do not need to change the tactics, we just change one good player for another.”
As Pochettino points out, both players are good and similar enough that there’s no need to change the tactics that worked so well on Monday.
It all makes sense to us. Mudryk has done well with his consecutive starts, but a player who relies on speed and explosion like him is always primed for rotation, and Sterling is an experienced and fresh player who can hopefully come in and do some real damage.
Mudryk is on the bench, ready to reinforce the team in the second half if needed.
