Nothing has better summarised the inconsistencies in Chelsea's attack this season than the past month. Heading into the final international break of the campaign, it appeared that Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech were the names Thomas Tuchel would pick alongside the trusted duo of Kai Havertz and Mason Mount.
Pulisic had scored important goals against Lille to get the Blues into the last eight of the Champions League, and Ziyech was providing a more consistent streak of inspiration many had waited for since his signing in 2020. Timo Werner was firmly at the back of the queue, even more pinpointed by his display in the defeat to Brentford.
But flash forward to Sunday against West Ham where Timo Werner was a starter, Pulisic and Ziyech watching on from the sidelines, neither had started a game since the first leg against Real Madrid. Both came off the bench and impressed, but it was the American whose influence proved definitive.
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Pulisic's eyes lit up in the 90th minute as Marcos Alonso's low cross invitingly bent into his path with space to compose himself and place his shot beyond the stretching palms of Lukasz Fabianski.
The goal offered Stamford Bridge a massive release of frustration on an afternoon where they had watched their team huff and puff to little avail. When the chance to win the game was handed on a plate from the spot, Jorginho bafflingly passed the ball into the arms of Fabianski.
Pulisic's perfectly-timed run into the box prevented a week of frustration from being sealed, but wider than the importance of the goal in the context of the season, it may mean more to the winger's career.
As we approach the summer, names are already being linked to Stamford Bridge: Benfica's Darwin Nunez, RB Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku and even far-fetched links with Bayern's Robert Lewandowski are among those touted with a move. The club has spent a lot on attacking players in recent windows, with Pulisic's original £58million fee involved in the over £300million spent since 2019.
Pulisic, as other Blues attackers have faced, is a question over his future beyond this season. Floating in and out of Tuchel's preferred selection, whilst struggling for form himself.
"He had a period when he was on a run, had the confidence, was heavily involved upfront and Timo (Werner) had to wait for many, many weeks." Tuchel said on Pulisic after Sunday's win.
"Puli struggled a little bit since coming back from the international break where he had three matches, an incredible amount of joineries and time zones to cope with. From there, he struggled energy-wise. This was my impression, on and off the pitch. It's sometimes like this.
"Now we have tried to bring him back in full confidence from the bench, and I am happy with the effort today, and I am happy he had the chance to have this big impact with Romelu and Hakim. It was super important."
The winner on Sunday was trademark Pulisic, perfectly anticipating a ball inside the box for a first-time finish. One of the unique things about the 23-year-old is that a large proportion of his goals could be deemed as poacher's finishes - the sort a traditional centre-forward would thrive off.
Despite his diminutive frame and liking for bursting runs and dribbling, Pulisic has always been most impactful as merely a finisher than a creator. It is those attributes that have always made the concept of selling him at an early age a risky one, particularly as he has now gone five months without an injury setback. Which by his history at Chelsea, is a step forward.
Other names have been linked, but in the wildly unpredictable pendulum of form from Chelsea's attackers, Pulisic can hopefully end this season on the right note.
