US men's national team star Christian Pulisic continued his superb form for Chelsea since the Premier League season restart, contributing a fine assist for the only goal of the game against Norwich City on Tuesday.
Pulisic has been on fire in recent weeks with three goals in six Premier League games since the season restart. And he dazzled again at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, creating space against a defender and whipping in a sublime cross that Olivier Giroud headed into the Norwich net in first-half injury time.
The 1-0 win was a vital one for Chelsea, too, as it put them back into third place in the Premier League and in a strong position to capture a Champions League place for next season.
After the game, Pulisic earned rave reviews from both head coaches. Norwich boss Daniel Farke coached Pulisic in the Dortmund second-team between 2015-2017 and said the American was well on his way to becoming world-class.
“I would value and appreciate it if Christian would be in my team, without a doubt!” Farke joked afterward, via NBC Sports. “Chelsea spent 60 million pounds or something like this, of course I know him out of my time with Borussia Dortmund. He’s a brilliant lad. Always humble. Always with both feet on the ground. Always works unbelievably hard on the pitch. A player full of potential.
"He will have a bright future and it was a lot of money [to spend on him] but he is definitely worth each and every pound because he’s a top-class player. He proved that today with a great cross and I would have preferred he was not able to find Giroud, who in this moment is still a top-class striker. Christian will have a bright future and will be a world-class player one day and this is the best way to develop in this direction.”
Pulisic's own coach, Frank Lampard, hailed the link-up between Pulisic and Giroud.
“We clearly saw that with the goal and I was delighted with Christian’s movement to run in-behind on the little angle because that is what we weren’t doing in the early stages of the game,” Lampard said. “Ollie will always be alive and if you’re playing Giroud, you want to get balls in the box. You need to play to his strengths and he gets a really good goal."
