For once, Michy Batshuayi got to be in the spotlight on the pitch for Chelsea, getting the start on Sunday afternoon against Peterborough United in the FA Cup. For 90 minutes, the focus was on his actual football, rather than his future at Chelsea, or, for that matter, his Twitter account.
And what we saw, for the first time since the start of the season, was the kid with the €40m promise, the kid with the strength, the physicality, the skill, and determination. Overdoing it at first, head down too much, trying to do everything on his own, but then settling in quite nicely and unlucky to have finished with just one goal and one assist. Several chances and 2-3 quite decent penalty shouts went begging, but those should improve with match practice and a bit of luck. Hopefully he'll get to have both of those the rest of the season at Chelsea, rather than on loan in some random corner of the country.
"Michy played a good game. He showed me great commitment. It's always important to score for the confidence."
"But he has to continue to work. He's working a lot and improving. He must continue in this way. He gives me that opportunity to have another solution."
-Antonio Conte; source: Evening Standard
Batshuayi himself seemed to cause a bit of a stir with his non-reaction to his own goal, but in the second half he was dancing with Zouma and Willian to celebrate the latter's goal, so I'd guess everything's just fine.
A goal & an assist but most important is a great win by the team ✌ congrats to peterborough and good luck for the season #cfc #jobdone pic.twitter.com/zcbIwXJFRX
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) January 8, 2017