Lean into Kai Havertz or bring back Romelu Lukaku? Examining Thomas Tuchel’s striker options for League Cup final

Let’s start this off with a question. Since the turn of the millennium how many truly elite strikers do you think Chelsea Football Club have had? Not necessarily the reputation or what they did elsewhere, it’s about being elite while being a Chelsea player. Ad/> The answer, depending on your view of how good Nicolas Anelka was, is three, maybe four.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Didier Drogba and Diego Costa, maybe Anelka. Others have had their moments (Hello Hernan Crespo, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud) but in reality they are the only group who really were at an elite level. League CupLiverpool can take first step to unprecedented quadruple by following Chelsea blueprint27 MINUTES AGO And even though it’s early, it is time to probably start having a conversation about where on the list Romelu Lukaku is going to slot in.

Lukaku is in a bit of a rough patch. His goals in the semi-final and final of the Club World Cup recently ended a month long goal-drought but he is goalless in the Premier League since netting in the 1-1 draw at home to Brighton on December 29. Part of this was down to injury, as well as a self-imposed exile from the team after Tuchel dropped him in the aftermath of his explosive interview with Sky Italia, and part of it is down (in some way) to how he has been used, but in reality Lukaku has not been anywhere close to a £100 million player.

Last Saturday against Crystal Palace, Lukaku set the record for the fewest touches in a Premier League game since Opta began keeping records. It was a horribly disjointed display that was genuinely awkward to watch at times. This author has seen strangers get roped into a game on a Saturday and have more chemistry with their team-mates than Lukaku