Chelsea should be celebrating having a player with a better strike-rate than Harry Kane and yet Michy Batshuayi faces an uncertain future at Stamford Bridge.
Since joining from Marseille for £33.1million last year, Batshuayi has scored 16 goals in 1,149 minutes of competitive football for the Blues — an average of one every 71.8 minutes.
Meanwhile Kane, whose average is put more to the test due to the fact he has played 13,000 minutes for Tottenham, scores once every 116 minutes.
Despite the obvious disparity in time spent on the pitch, these figures should generate excitement at Stamford Bridge.
After all, club-record buy Alvaro Morata has earned greater praise for his seven goals following a £58m move from Real Madrid in July, but his return (one goal every 105.8 minutes) does not measure up to Batshuayi’s either.
However, from coach Antonio Conte to the supporters in the stands, Batshuayi still has a lot of convincing to do.
The 24-year-old has completed 90 minutes for Chelsea just five times in 14 months, while anaemic displays in Premier League defeats to Burnley and Crystal Palace this term provided more evidence for his critics that he is not good enough.
And yet four days ago he came to Chelsea’s and Conte’s rescue, scoring the kind of brace that Kane would be proud of in helping the Blues beat Watford 4-2.
In Pictures | Chelsea vs Watford | 21/10/2017
The Belgium international will get another chance to prove his worth against Everton in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup tonight.
And, as far as his Chelsea and Belgium team-mate Thibaut Courtois is concerned, Batshuayi deserves more patience.
He told Standard Sport: “I think sometimes it is too easy to criticise somebody. When you join a team like Chelsea people expect a lot of goals straight away.
“Michy is young and he needs to be given time. Not every striker will have the same impact at the same time.
“But he is doing well, he has scored some important goals. Obviously, he has to keep on working and doing what the manager asks of him.
“But sometimes he has played in games where as a team we haven’t had enough possession or we can’t reach him well enough.”
Batshuayi’s light-hearted comments on his Twitter account have entertained thousands of followers, but also given the impression to some that he does not take the sport seriously.
Yet the manner in which he reacted angrily after being substituted during the match with Crystal Palace earlier this month said otherwise.
Courtois added: “After Crystal Palace, people criticised him and that is not easy. He showed a lot of spirit to come back from that.
“When he came off against Palace, I don’t think he was reacting towards the coach as some have made out, but he was just disappointed with his game, that he couldn’t make an impact.
“So it is good that he worked hard during the following week and tried to fight again. He had another opportunity against Watford, scored twice and that’s important.”
Chelsea, who are set to start Charly Musonda, Kenedy and Ethan Ampadu this evening, take on an Everton side that has just sacked manager Ronald Koeman.
“I don’t think it’s a moment to relax,” added Courtois. “I don’t think Everton are playing badly but at the moment they are conceding sloppy goals and the other teams are having a bit more luck against them.
“This is a game in a different competition and they will want to win.”