It was a slightly embarrassing moment for Mykhailo Mudryk. On 75 minutes, Enzo Fernandez played the Ukrainian through with a beautiful clipped ball and the winger thought he had scored his first goal since signing for Chelsea.
Mudryk very confidently slotted the ball past Danny Ward and ran off to the Chelsea away end to celebrate his goal with the travelling supporters. However, he seemed to be the last one to know that he was flagged offside. It was marginal, but the correct call from the assistant referee.
It was an emotional moment for Mudryk. He thought he had just scored his first-ever Chelsea goal, so it's understandable that he got a bit carried away. And with the assistant referees not flagging until as late as possible nowadays because of VAR, who can blame a player for not hearing the whistle in a sold out stadium?
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He should not be too downhearted, though, because that moment should be viewed as a positive. It was an example of Mudryk's blistering and frightening speed – something we have not seen too much of since making the big-money move in the January transfer window. We had that brief cameo against Liverpool at Anfield, but apart from that it's been a slowish start to life at Stamford Bridge for the 22-year-old. Saturday afternoon's win against Leicester City was just his fourth start in all competitions under Graham Potter.
Even the offside goal he scored at the King Power Stadium, though, was something Potter and Mudryk can be encouraged by. As mentioned, it was so marginal, but the actual run itself is the exact reason Chelsea signed the Ukraine international a couple of months ago. When Chelsea are leading a game, especially away from home, and the opposition are pressing for an equaliser, to have a tool like the pace of Mudryk up your sleeve is devastating.
On 72 minutes of Chelsea's game against the Foxes, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah were brought on for Ben Chilwell and Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Potter changed the shape. The Blues went to a 4-3-3 having previously been using a back three system that had already changed a couple of times in the game.
Mudryk played the first-half as a sole striker essentially, with help from the likes of Joao Felix and Kai Havertz who were playing just off the Ukrainian. It was a role we saw adopted by Raheem Sterling just a few days before against Borussia Dortmund and the England international, who missed the match in Leicester with a hamstring problem, thrived in it.
The role was to effectively try and pin two Foxes defenders back and allow space for Felix and Havertz, and any other willing runners, behind. Mudryk did that at times but the role is quite selfless and it meant he barely saw any of the ball in the first-half.
At half-time, Felix came off for Conor Gallagher and Chelsea moved to a three-man midfield, leaving Mudryk and Havertz playing as two central strikers. Mudryk did improve from the first-half, but there was still that overriding feeling that we'd like to see more from the former Shakhtar Donetsk attacker. And we did, albeit for only 10 minutes, when he moved out to the left wing when Chelsea switched to a 4-3-3.
That's where his disallowed goal comes from. He's on the left-hand side with Ricardo Pereira doing his best to track the Ukrainian. When a player is on the wing, there tends to be more space to run in behind, either because the modern day full-back likes to attack and often leave themselves vulnerable defensively, or because when running past a centre-back, there's usually another one to sweep up for their partner. Mudryk had all the space in the world because Leicester's defence were just behind the halfway line as the Foxes were looking to apply attacking pressure.
Just a few moments later, there was another chance for Chelsea fans to see what Mudryk can do when Mateo Kovacic scored the visitors' third and final goal of the afternoon. In the build-up to the goal, Mudryk stayed really wide on the left-hand side, trying to create as much space as possible from his marker Pereira. He knew that with the play on Chelsea's right-hand side that if a cross came into the box, then Pereira would be dragged more centrally with the Foxes' back-four shuffling over to the ball.
That's exactly what happened, so when Havertz ended up crossing the ball, Mudryk was in acres of space at the far post. He then headed the ball, which was perfectly weighted, to Kovacic and the Croatian volleyed the ball emphatically past Ward.
It was Mudryk's first direct goal involvement as a Chelsea player and one that will do his confidence the world of good. He was substituted on 82 minutes, so we only got to see the Ukrainian on the left-hand side for about 10 minutes but even in the short cameo, his talent, ability and purpose in the Blues' team was clear to see.
Potter was clearly delighted with what he saw from Mudryk during his 82 minutes on the pitch at the weekend. The Chelsea head coach was quick to offer some perspective as well and remind everyone of the Ukrainian's lack of experience.
"He'll get better and better," Potter told reporters about Mudryk post-match. "He's a young player that hasn't that much experience, so each game he'll get better and better.
"His attitude is fantastic, he wants to help the team and work with the team. I'm delighted he got an assist and helped us."
It was brief, but it was very entertaining for those 10 minutes to see Mudryk in his most natural position. It's one Chelsea supporters should get used to because that's clearly the role the club have in mind for him in the future.
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