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Sutton slams Manchester United’s Lukaku performance v Chelsea

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Outspoken pundit Chris Sutton has slammed Manchester United summer signing Romelu Lukaku for his display against Premier League champions Chelsea on the weekend.

The 24-year-old failed to touch the ball in the opposition’s box throughout the entire 90 minutes as the Blues came away with an important 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge thanks to a Alvaro Morata header.

The result means that Jose Mourinho’s side now trail city neighbours Manchester City by eight points in the Premier League table.

Whilst Chelsea’s number nine imposed his authority on United’s back four, Lukaku struggled to make his mark on the match and he has now gone seven matches without a goal in all competitions for his new club.

However, the Belgium international has enjoyed a sensational start to his Old Trafford career, contributing with a total of 11 goals and three assists.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, former Chelsea striker Sutton revealed that he was not impressed with Lukaku’s display and stated that the Belgian must put in more effort in the big matches.

“At 6ft 3in, Romelu Lukaku is one of the most physically imposing forwards in the Premier League,” he wrote.

“Yet he was bullied all afternoon by Andreas Christensen — on only his fourth league start for Chelsea — and Cesar Azpilicueta who is almost half a foot shorter.

“The accusation levelled at Lukaku is that he does not turn up for the big games. I do not like calling players out for a lack of effort but on this evidence, it is hard to argue.”

OPINION

Lukaku appears to have hit a dip in form but that shouldn’t take anything away from his sensational start to the campaign. United are seriously missing the presence of Paul Pogba in the midfield and this was highlighted on the weekend when the likes of N’Golo Kante and Tiemoue Bakayoko bullied them at Stamford Bridge. Lukaku is a confidence player and when he finally gets on the scoresheet, it is likely that he could go on another fantastic run in front of goal. We believe that it’s unfair that Sutton has accused him of a lack of effort because the striker appears to be doing his best to get involved in the game but things are just not falling in his favour at the moment.

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