Joe Cole claim Kai Havertz can and should lead the line for Chelsea after his ‘excellent’ display against Bournemouth on Tuesday.
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The West London side beat the Cherries 2-0 at Stamford Bridge with Havertz opening the scoring from Raheem Sterling’s cross, before giving the assist for Mason Mount’s second goal.
The Germany International has struggled for consistency since moving to Chelsea in 2020 for a then-club record £72m.
The 23-year-old has scored just 28 goals and made 15 assists in 113 games for Chelsea, but showed his quality against Bournemouth having been picked in the striker role ahead of Aubameyang.
It was a decision that paid off for Graham Potter and one that Cole hopes he sticks with in the future, with the former Chelsea player telling Amazon Prime: ‘Kai Havertz is a very good guy.
‘He was excellent tonight, good goal and an assist. I think he’s the way forward for Chelsea.
‘We want him to be more mean, we want him to do what he did today. Breaking his neck to get in those positions to score goals, like he did tonight.’
The next month is very key for Chelsea, who have remained eighth in the table but are now just six points off the Champions League spots, with an outstanding game over fourth-placed Tottenham.
They face back-to-back matches against Manchester City in the Premier League and FA Cup as well as a trip to Liverpool in January, and Havertz will have to be in top form if Potter’s team are to get off to a perfect start in 2023.
‘The win and the goals hopefully will give us some confidence,’ the forward said post-match.
‘It’s an important win. We have to keep on winning. We need the points. We’ll give our best in the coming games.
‘He [Potter] gives me the freedom to do whatever I feel comfortable on the pitch. I like to play free and to be in the box. He gives me a lot of confidence.
‘I know the vision Raheem has. He loves to play these balls. It was a perfect ball and i was happy to score.’
