Graham Potter admitted that he turned to Mykahylo Mudryk a little earlier than he had planned during the draw with Liverpool.
Mudryk made his Chelsea bow at Anfield less than a week after his eye-watering transfer to Stamford Bridge was completed. The Ukrainian hasn’t played since November, with Potter revealing he is still managing his workload as he regains full fitness.
But with the game locked in a stalemate, the Blues boss called for Mudryk a matter of minutes into the second half. And the 22-year-old wasted no time in showing exactly why he was the focus of such a frenzied transfer battle between his new club and London rivals Arsenal.
Less than 10 minutes into his first taste of the English top-flight, Mudryk almost opened the scoring with a dazzling piece of skill. Having picked up the ball with three Liverpool defenders in close attention, he weaved his way through to find a yard of a room, only for his shot to hit the side netting.
That was one of a number of encouraging moments for the Blues debutant, who provided hope that he could be the catalyst for a revival in the second half of the season. And Potter, speaking after the 0-0 draw on Merseyside, was encouraged by his new signing’s introduction - despite playing a little more than he anticipated.
Asked if he was planning to bring him on later, he said: “Yes, ideally we wanted to give him around 30 minutes, but we thought it was the right time. He's a fit boy and we thought it was the right time to bring him on. It was a good start to his career with us."
He added: "He’s not played football for a while, he’s been on a mid-season break, we had to manage his minutes and he’s still in that phase, but you could see his qualities.”
All in all, it was a positive day for Chelsea and Potter, who recorded their second clean sheet on the spin. Potter told BT Sport: "I thought the performance was good. Happy with the team, the energy, what we tried to do. At Anfield, it is always tough. It is a clean sheet and a point, we move forward.
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"First half, we were decent, unlucky not to get the goal. It is what it is. They started the second half well, and we adjusted a couple of things and gained control, had a couple of chances. Overall, a positive day, apart from the fact we wanted three points."
The result leaves Chelsea in 10th place in the Premier League table and a daunting nine points off the Champions League places, despite playing a game more.
Jurgen Klopp’s side sit in eighth, but like the Blues, will be watching the teams above them and hoping the gap to the top four doesn’t grow over the rest of the weekend.
