For the third time in a row Christian Pulisic has been left out of Chelsea's starting XI as Frank Lampard's side face Arsenal, failing to even make the squad for the trip to north London.
The American winger has struggled to cement his place under the 44-year-old but started against Brighton two weeks ago. He was left on the bench against Brentford despite his teammates being in need of a goal and didn't feature in either leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie with Real Madrid.
He is far from the only under-performing attacker this year but his return of just one goal in all competitions represents a new low, one that is not likely to change whilst he takes his place amongst the subs once more.
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Noni Madueke got the nod over the 24-year-old having struggled for minutes since his January arrival, and Lampard defended the young stars looking for a place in the team ahead of the game as well, saying: "In an ideal world, a club the level of Chelsea, you want to bring in those players with stability and performances and results where they can find their time, look at other players playing in front of them and realise what the standards are to get into the team.
"We can't expect the individuals to find that, so from my point of view because I’ve got experience as a player, because I’ve got experience as a coach, all I want from the players is respect in working with us, listening to us, myself and the staff, because we do care."
For Pulisic, his sustained period of being in and out of the team as well as in a state of recovering from injury, then fit and searching for game time has seen him slip down the pecking order. With just five games to go after this in the season, it is very possible that he has already started his last game for the club, too.
Attention is turning towards giving new signings Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk more game time leading into the new season. This isn't a stance that is likely to aid Pulisic, with his contract entering its final 12 months over the summer and a transfer away from the club on the cards.
As things stand, when the USMNT star does get a chance to impress off the bench he needs to take the opportunity and make himself undroppable. If that isn't to be the case then the new head coach - expected to be Mauricio Pochettino - won't have much to go off when it comes to drawing up squad plans for next season.
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