Morata hoping to rekindle productive Kovačić partnership at Chelsea

Another 90 minutes without a goal for Álvaro Morata last night against Huddersfield, which means that the Chelsea striker remains stuck on three (3!) goals in total (and only 1 in the Premier League) for the 2017 calendar year. Any way you slice it, that’s not a good return. And sure, like in the second-half last night, Morata can be a useful contributor without goals (and without constant complaining to the referee), but eventually he’s going to have to score one or two or many.

While service to him may have been spotty at times, his finishing has been even worse. Still, he’s hoping that improvement in the former will help the latter. Namely, he’s hoping to reconnect on the pitch with new signing Mateo Kovačić, with whom he played two seasons ago at Real Madrid and apparently quite effectively.

“Mateo, first of all, is an amazing person. He is a midfielder who is good with the ball, very technical. He can break through the lines with his quality, he can score goals and he has a lot of power in his legs.

“With him we will win a lot of possession and he has the ability to carry the ball into the final third and provide passes for the strikers. He’s a very good player which is very important for us because we need top players.

“Yes, he gave me a lot of assists in Madrid. We enjoy playing together and I’m very happy to have him here. I think he’s one of the best midfielders in the world.”

-Álvaro Morata; source: Chelsea FC

Kovačić was not quite fit to be included in the matchday squad yesterday, but surely that’s coming soon; perhaps as soon as the next game, which will be against Arsenal at the Bridge on Saturday. That game will be an opportunity to consign all the recent bad results against the Gunners to the past and start a new chapter. Perhaps Morata will do so as well.