Pulisic: it is tough at home

BY PAUL LAGAN
paul@slpmedia.co.uk­

Christian Pulisic is as frustrated as all Chelsea fans at the Blues’ worrying home form – and he’s equally at a loss as to why it’s happening.

Chelsea have lost four and drawn four in all home games so far, while they have won seven times on their travels, with just two defeats – the league opener against Manchester United and a tight 2-1 defeat against Manchester City.

The Blues head to Merseyside on Saturday, keen to extend their impressive form away from Stamford Bridge.

The Blues remain fourth, irrespective of last night’s home result against Aston Villa – six points ahead of resurgent Spurs.

US winger Pulisic, 20, has seen back-to-back defeats in the league and a tough draw in the Champions League away to Valencia, before last’s night’s game.

He said: “It’s been a tough week. Yeah obviously it was a pretty crazy game
midweek in Spain and then coming home to a 1-0 defeat to West Ham.

“We really wanted a good result, we came out with a lot of energy and did some things well, but we just didn’t have that finishing touch – a little something was missing.”

Of the erratic form between home and away, he said: “That is the thing, you can’t [explain it], really.

“You’d think it would be the other way around. It is a bit strange, I guess.
“I don’t know. Maybe it is just putting ourselves under a bit more pressure than we need to at home, who knows?

“We want to go out and get results wherever we play, we come out with the
same energy and we hope that we can turn it around here.

“Our away form has been great but at times at home it has been tougher, we’ve had some good games but it is just about the fact that we want to do it in front of our fans as well.”

The squad will be tested in the coming weeks and Pulisic is hoping striker Tammy Abraham is fully recovered from his hip injury sustained in Spain and back in the side for the visit to Everton.

On Abraham, he said: “Of course, he is a big miss. He has done well for us this season but we have other guys who can step up.

“Oli [Giroud]. He trains great and he’s a great player – he was a bit unfortunate against West Ham, so we’ll see.

“In the course of the season that is what happens – there are ups and downs.

“Obviously we have had a few months now where people have said how well we’ve done and how everything has been going great and I wish it would stay like that the whole year, but it’s not the case so now a couple of tougher results and we just have to go, try and turn it around.

“It’s a test of our character – tough times really test you.

“Things aren’t going amazing, “Luckily in this league we get another game to redeem ourselves. That is another positive, we’ve wanted to do much better at home this season.”

Pulisic is not accepting that the players are looking tired – Lampard’s desire to play 90 minutes of high-tempo football is not playing a part in that perception.

He said: “I mean we have different guys who can come in. We had the fresh guys come against West Ham. We have a full squad and a very fit squad so it shouldn’t be an issue.”