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Daniel Childs

Christian Pulisic must repeat Frank Lampard promise to avoid Mohamed Salah Chelsea fate

Chelsea's whole squad have seemingly enjoyed this winter break that followed a gruelling winter schedule.

Mason Mount has been bathing in the American sun whilst Antonio Rudiger has returned to Sierra Leone. But others like Thiago Silva and Christian Pulisic have been on international duty with Brazil and the USA respectively.

Chelsea's FA Cup fourth-round tie against Plymouth on Saturday kickstarts the business end of the season. Thomas Tuchel's men will compete in five competitions just in February and the intensity is unlikely to lessen after that.

Whilst some players will be riding high after their involvement in the win over Spurs last month, others have a point to prove.

As this break has allowed transfer speculation to fester, a number of players on the fringes of Tuchel's squad are being linked with moves away in the summer.

The upcoming run provides a chance to silence that noise and prove capable of improving Tuchel's system.

So let's take a look at four names who need to have a positive conclusion to their season.

Christian Pulisic

Christian Pulisic is involved for USMNT against Honduras in Minnesota on Wednesday night that will precede his return to Chelsea.

He will hope to get back into Tuchel's thoughts after playing no minutes in the previous two Premier League games.

Pulisic has avoided injury since November but now needs to rekindle the electric form he showed under Frank Lampard in 2019/20 to avoid a similar fate to Mohamed Salah and be sold too soon.

Christian Pulisic has been unable to cement his place in the starting XI at Chelsea under Tuchel. (Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

Timo Werner

Another name that has mostly been on the fringes in recent weeks.

Werner has only one Premier League goal so far this season, six in total from 19 appearances.

The German has failed to impress in his second year and has a major fight on his hands to change a narrative that he is not suited to Premier League football.

Unless he can prove impactful, the summer might be a good moment to cut ties.

Romelu Lukaku

Unlike most on this list, Romelu Lukaku remains a persistent name on Chelsea's teamsheet.

His controversial interview has sapped a lot of support and sympathy for his early-season struggles.

But Lukaku not only needs to prove his worth as the ready-made £98m frontman we all thought he was going to be back in August.

Tuchel's recent change in formation looks to be getting the Belgian into better positions, but the goals need to return.

Kai Havertz

How differently things look for the silky German over eight months after that iconic Champions League winner.

Kai Havertz has mostly avoided injury this season but failed to progress from the lofty heights of Porto. Like other players in Chelsea's attack, Havertz has endured a stop-start flow to his Premier League career so far.

But the 22-year-old still drifts through too many games, painting around the edges rather than proving a distinctive artist on the pitch.

Chelsea invested a lot on Havertz in 2020, there needs to be a major shift for him to become one of Tuchel's most trusted attackers.

Make sure you have subscribed to CareFreeChelsea on YouTube! The Fan Brands team along with plenty of your football.london favourites will be producing daily Chelsea content for you to enjoy including match reactions, podcasts, football fun and interviews. You can follow Daniel Childs from the CareFreeChelsea team to keep up to date with his work. If you enjoyed reading this then give my other articles a read below.

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