You sensed a certain restraint in the praise of Mykhailo Mudryk’s performance in Chelsea’s victory over Panathinaikos. It was as if even whispering the idea that the evening might prove a turning point would guarantee it instead slumped into a false dawn.
There have been plenty of those already in the Ukrainian’s underwhelming Blues career, not least the last time Newcastle visited Stamford Bridge in March. Then, Mudryk scored the third and what turned out to be crucial goal in a 3-2 triumph that was among the most important in the late upturn that steered Mauricio Pochettino’s team back into Europe.
