Christopher Nkunku arrived at Chelsea from Leipzig in the summer and hopes that he could become a regular source of goals for the Blues, having been the top scorer in the Bundesliga last season, were only increased after some promising performances by the Frenchman in pre-season.

However, a knee injury ruled Nkunku out until December and, after making his first few competitive appearances over the Christmas period and netting his first Chelsea goal, he has missed our last two games with a separate hip problem, and is out of contention again today against Fulham.

Mauricio Pochettino believes his continued absence has increased the pressure on our other forwards to score goals in his absence. That applies in particular to young strikers Nicolas Jackson and Armando Broja, who would ordinarily have been afforded more time to get up to speed, after the former joined from Villarreal and the latter recovered from a long spell out with his own injury.

‘In the next few days, we will see the situation with Nkunku,’ said Pochettino. ‘That is why I’m a little worried because I do not have the full information as to whether he will be available in a short period or not.

‘Nkunku was the player last season that was performing – of course, in a different league – and was consistent in scoring goals. That was the situation before the start of the season.

‘That is why we feel a little bit more the hit of Nkunku because we made sure he was consistent in scoring goals and when you miss a player like this, you hope players that came to the club to help and need time to grow can score the goals.

‘It has instead became a necessity, compulsory, for Jackson to score goals, for every single touch to be good, and to perform well. It’s for Broja after a year out to play three games in a row, which is difficult for him.

‘This situation makes our job more difficult. It is exciting, this project, but the situation has made it more difficult to grow at a different pace.’

Of course, it is not just our attacking players who are under pressure, with that being part and parcel of representing a big club like Chelsea.

In Pochettino’s eyes it is an important part of the learning process for his young team, though, and he is finding out lots about his players by how they handle these moments too.

‘These are different situations that help the players become more mature and improve. We need time and we talk about this type of situation a lot. It’s a group of players that need to share feelings, emotions, and different types of situations that happen on the pitch.

‘We are in a process that we are excited about because it’s a process that is unique. There are many young players that we need to provide good tools to perform at a club like Chelsea. Maybe at another club it’s easier as at Chelsea we have the pressure to win.

‘It’s so exciting and we are happy to have this possibility, but at the same time we want to win and perform. That is why sometimes we are emotional, feel so disappointed and frustrated. But we need to give them time and for sure we will perform.

‘It’s good to see how they perform under pressure, that is about character. We need to give them time but we are, at the same time, assessing them and analysing how they react under pressure. For the future, that will help us take the best decisions for the club.’