A close look at Romelu Lukaku’s seven touches uncovers return of Chelsea fans' Sarri nightmare

When Chelsea broke their transfer record to sign Romelu Lukaku last summer, they would have hoped the Belgian could break records on the pitch in the Premier League.

He did on Saturday, just in the worst way possible.

Seven touches. The fewest in a single Premier League game for a player with 90+ minutes played since this data is available in full for the competition via Opta.

It was a new low for Lukaku whose struggles to fully transform Chelsea's attack since his £97m arrival has been a consistent narrative of this season.

The phrase "like playing with ten men" probably has never been more apt than this particular situation.

Though it did feel slightly ironic that his involvement in one of Chelsea's most encouraging attacking moves almost lead to the opener, only for VAR to intervene to rule him offside.

Those who feel little sympathy for Lukaku will pin all of Chelsea's attacking woes at his doorstep. And why not? This was the no-brainer, big-money forward to soothe all of the club's profligate woes.

Unlike the woeful finishing of Timo Werner and Alvaro Morata, Lukaku isn’t even getting the chance to finish.

The controversial interview made him an outlier in the squad and this performance demonstrated that in the strongest way possible.

Let's break down those touches.

A bit more encouragement as Lukaku drops back to link with Christian Pulisic. Hooking a nice pass over the Palace defence for the American to run onto.

Lukaku's most encouraging moment of the game and comes from a brilliant Hakim Ziyech cross from the right in the opening ten minutes of the game.

Lukaku gets ahead of his marker to guide the ball towards the back post. Pulisic gets there but cannot keep the effort down.

Like in the Club World Cup