After Wednesday’s defeat ended Chelsea’s 13 match winning streak, the Blues will face Peterborough in the FA Cup on Sunday.
The match will see Antonio Conte give opportunities to members of the squad that didn’t see much playing time during the winning run.
One such member will be Nathaniel Chalobah, an academy product, who has served as something of a closer, entering matches late to seal the points.
Chalobah told the Evening Standard that he is looking to use the opportunity of a rare start, to prove that he will be valuable to the club during the run in and should not be loaned out this January.
Some people make it at their clubs at 18, others don’t get in until they’re 22. I think sometimes people forget that Chelsea are a very big club and have world class players.
Chalobah’s emergence this season comes after he waited six years to make his debut following being named to the bench at only 15 years of age.
In terms of me getting the chance now, about being in the right place at the right time. You always have to keep your mentality the same and work hard to improve. Then you never know what could happen. Whatever happens, you must never give up — you just have to keep going.
Chalobah says he has learned from training with “top” players such as N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas, and Nemanja Matic, and another strong performance from Chalobah could also serve to convince the club not to spend money on rumored targets Franck Kessie of Atalanta or Monaco’s Tiemoue Bakayoko, who both play a similar position to Chalobah.
January could be crucial in Chalobah’s quest to become the first Chelsea Academy graduate to successfully integrate into the first team since John Terry, and this Sunday is the first opportunity to make a positive impression.
