Chelsea fans were really excited to see Christopher Nkunku, 26, make his first ever start for the club last night.

The French forward impressed in the No 10 position versus Palace, knitting together a lot of his side’s attacks at Stamford Bridge.

Eventually, he came off in the 71st minute.

Jason Cundy reaction

TalkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy enjoyed Nkunku’s performance this week after watching him live against Palace.

However, he noticed that the £52million star (Sky Sports) was visibly tired in the second-half.

“Nkunku was good. He tired after an hour. He looked really tired,” Cundy told talkSPORT.

Christopher Nkunku against Crystal Palace

We agree that Nkunku faded away before being substituted off against Palace, but let’s remember the context that it was only his third appearance of the season after returning from a knee injury.

It’s naturally going to take some time for him to get up to full speed again, so we wouldn’t be overly surprised if he doesn’t start this weekend for the league trip to Luton Town.

It was still another eye-catching display from him on Wednesday evening.

WhoScored data recorded that Nkunku had a 92 per cent passing accuracy against Palace, plus he made one key pass.

Speaking via Amazon Prime Video yesterday, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink labelled Nkunku as “brilliant” during his full competitive debut for Chelsea.

We’re confident that there’s plenty more gears for Nkunku to go through once he fully adapts to the pace of the Premier League and is fully fit. It’s just a massive relief to see him available and contributing for the Blues.

There’s a lot to be excited about the glimpses of him linking up well with the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson in the final third.