Pulisic: Chelsea have a great mix of youth and experience

Christian Pulisic has hailed the Frank Lampard era after Chelsea made it six wins in a row with an impressive 1-0 victory away to Ajax in the Champions League.

Michy Batshuayi turned in fellow substitute Pulisic’s cross in the 86th minute to earn arguably Chelsea’s best win under Lampard and help the Blues’ quest to qualify from Group H.

Chelsea are now top of their group after starting the Champions League with a home defeat by Valencia, while they will travel to Burnley in the Premier League at the weekend, sitting in fourth place in the table.

Lampard’s side look to have turned around inconsistent early-season form characterised by poor defensive displays and Pulisic, who supplied his third assist in his last four substitute appearances, tried to explain the changes in the camp.

“It’s tough to say why [things have changed]. I think we put a lot of hard work in and throughout the game, and at half time, we just said to keep going, keep fighting because we’re doing well and the subs are going to come in for tired guys and really make a difference,” Pulisic said at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

“Of course, I was given another opportunity to go in and the manager told me, ‘go in, make an impact, make a difference’ and I’m happy I was able to help a little bit with that.

“I think we have a great mix of youth and experienced players, and I think that’s the reason why we’ve been getting great results lately. I think that’s coming together, we have a great balance.

“Team spirit definitely doesn’t need to be questioned. It’s there and we’re going to keep going. Being the only American, it’s nice; I can go with some of the French guys, the Brazilians. It’s good, it’s a good mix and I’ve been really close with everyone so it’s great just getting to know all of the guys.

“Now we’ve got six in a row, we want to keep going, keep fighting and keep it up and get the best results we can. He (Lampard) says that all of the time, we’re a team, we need every single player on the roster, he’s happy and I’m really happy with how it’s gone.”

Pulisic’s three assists have all been for Batshuayi, with the pair having played together at Borussia Dortmund in 2018 before spending time on the bench alongside each other this season.

Of the Belgian striker, Pulisic said: “He’s easy to play with, we’ve played together for a while and we have a nice connection.

“It was crazy, we were able to help with the goal and he made a great finish. The whole team has come together and done a good job.

“It’s great man. We had five wins in a row before this, now it’s six, another away win, big in the Champions League. We want to make it seven now and confidence helps you to keep it up and keep going.

“It was a really tough match for most of it. In the end, it opened up a little bit, but we worked really hard and we deserved to get a result.”

The 21-year-old’s good form from the bench is bittersweet, though, as he would prefer to start – something he has not done in the Premier League since the end of August.

“I’m never gonna let that put me down by not playing, I’m going to keep fighting because this is where I want to be,” he continued. “I came here for a reason, I want to be here and I want to make a difference. Whenever I get that opportunity, I want to keep working hard.

“I go in to give absolutely everything and do the best I can with the opportunity I’m given. I’m happy with the short time I was given to make an assist, make a difference and I want to be on the field.

“I want to be on the field as much as I can, whatever role that maybe. I want to keep going, keep fighting, that’s all.”