Mykhailo Mudryk is "the most talented and unique player in the world", and patient work on the training ground will see Chelsea get the best out of the winger.
That is the view of Serhiy Palkin, Shakhtar Donetsk's chief executive who struck the £89million deal which took Mudryk from Ukraine to Stamford Bridge last January.
Like many of the big-money recruits of the Todd Boehly era, Mudryk has struggled for consistency since arriving in west London, after emerging as one of Europe's hottest prospects at Shakhtar.
Between the start of 2021-22 and his move to the Premier League, Mudryk averaged a goal involvement every 70 minutes in the Ukrainian top flight, scoring nine goals and adding 13 assists in just 23 appearances during that spell.
However, Mudryk has just three goals and four assists to his name in 34 Premier League appearances, and he attracted more criticism for an ineffective substitute appearance in Sunday's EFL Cup final defeat to Liverpool.
Palkin, however, remains convinced of the 23-year-old's talent and feels he simply needs close attention from Mauricio Pochettino and his backroom staff.
"I can tell you that for me, Mudryk is the most talented and unique player in the world," Palkin told Stats Perform.
"I believe that in order to get from Mudryk the maximum, as they anticipate, you need to invest in him. These investments are not money.
"It's time for the coaching staff to communicate with him and to work closely with him. He is a young boy, he changed from the Ukrainian Championship to the Premier League.
"It's a completely different world, with completely different levels, completely different football.
"Therefore, I believe that if the coaching staff dedicates him some time, he will return three, four, or five times more."
One former Shakhtar man who made a far more immediate impact in the Premier League is Roberto De Zerbi, who led Brighton and Hove Albion to Europa League qualification last term while implementing a daring style of play.
The Seagulls are in the hunt for European qualification again this season, and they rank second in the Premier League for average passes per sequence (5.01), third for build-up attacks (127) and joint-first for high turnovers resulting in goals (seven).
After overseeing Brighton's dramatic rise, De Zerbi has been tipped to move on to pastures new, with both Barcelona and Liverpool suggested as possible landing spots for the Italian.
Palkin has no doubt De Zerbi is destined for the top, saying: "I can tell you that he did a lot for Brighton, he did brilliant work for Brighton.
"I believe 100 per cent that he can jump into a top club tomorrow, even today, 100 per cent. The most important thing is he must accept the proposition.
"I believe he has a lot of propositions, including in Italian football and English football. Therefore, everything, everything, everything depends on him."
Hurzeler keen to show response after learning from first Brighton loss
Fabian Hurzeler said Brighton will learn from their first loss under him as they aim to bounce back against Tottenham in the Premier League.
The Seagulls had enjoyed an unbeaten start under the German in all competitions, going unbeaten in his first seven matches.
However, after winning their opening two Premier League games, they drew three in a row before suffering that 4-2 defeat to Chelsea last weekend.
Hurzeler was not shying away from the poor result though, instead looking for the positives they can build on before the international break.
"It's very important after defeat that you are honest to yourself, you reflect on yourself, what was good, what was not good in the game," Hurzeler said.
"If you lose a game, of course, there are more negative points.
"But there were also some positive things. In the end, we have to learn from it; I have to learn from it because I was the responsible person for the match plan and the match plan wasn't good enough. Now we try to show a reaction."
Meanwhile, Spurs have won their last five matches in all competitions, impressively brushing aside Manchester United 3-0 in the Premier League last weekend before beating Ferencvaros 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.
They will most likely be without captain Son Heung-min again for the trip to Brighton, but Ange Postecoglou believes Spurs are settling into the style of play.
"It is always a shifting measurement," he said. "Any time you go on a consistent run of form - and I think we have been consistent all year, but the results in the past five games have rewarded the performances.
"We are a developing side, still very much a young side. The squad is still developing together, so it suggests whatever markers we set we should be able to exceed.
"We have had belief, the energy accelerates, and the key is to keep it going. You don't want to let it go."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brighton – Carlos Baleba
After not scoring or assisting in any of his first 31 Premier League appearances, Carlos Baleba scored and assisted in their 4-2 defeat to Chelsea.
He is the youngest Cameroonian to both score and assist in a Premier League match (20 years, 269 days).
Tottenham – Dominic Solanke
Since the start of last season, the only Englishmen with more Premier League goals than Dominic Solanke (21) are Cole Palmer (28) and Ollie Watkins (23).
The Spurs forward is looking to find the net in three consecutive appearances for the first time since December 2023 before heading to meet up with England during the international break.
MATCH PREDICTION: TOTTENHAM WIN
Just one of the 14 Premier League meetings between Brighton and Tottenham has finished as a draw (1-1 in April 2018), with Spurs winning nine to the Seagulls' four.
However, after losing consecutive Premier League home games against Spurs without scoring in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Brighton won this exact fixture 4-2 last season.
Brighton won six of their first 10 Premier League games in October (D2 L2) between 2017 and 2019 but have since won just one out of 16 October games since 2020 (D9 L6), a 4-1 win over Chelsea in 2022.
And given recent form, that run may continue, as the Seagulls have drawn their last two home Premier League matches, last drawing three in a row in November 2023. Indeed, since the start of last season, no side has drawn more home games than Brighton (8).
Tottenham, meanwhile, have won their last two Premier League games, last winning three in a row in December last year. Spurs have netted three goals in each victory (3-1 vs Brentford, 3-0 vs Man Utd), but have not won three consecutively while scoring 3+ goals since April 2022.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Brighton – 34.2%
Draw – 23.9%
Tottenham – 42%
Maresca calls on goal-happy Chelsea to tighten up versus Forest
Enzo Maresca has been delighted with Chelsea's attacking prowess in the early weeks of his reign but says they have much to improve at the other end ahead of hosting Nottingham Forest.
Maresca has made a strong start to life at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues unbeaten in five Premier League matches (four wins, one draw) since a matchday one defeat to Manchester City.
No team's Premier League games have produced more goals than Chelsea's so far in 2024-25, with Maresca's men scoring 15 times and conceding seven.
Forest's games, meanwhile, have contained the fewest goals of any side in the top flight (11, six for and five against).
Chelsea edged another goalfest on Thursday as they beat Gent 4-2 in the Europa Conference League, leading Maresca to call for defensive improvements.
"I think we are performing very positively, especially in attack, it's going very well so we are happy," Maresca said.
"As I said many times already, for sure there are always things we can do better. We can attack better, we can defend much better.
"But the most important thing we can learn is that we cannot switch off. For their second goal, we saw that the game was already finished.
"If we want to take a step forward, even when you the game is almost finished, you have to continue and not give away another goal, but it was a good performance and result.
Forest, meanwhile, saw their unbeaten start to the campaign halted by Fulham last time out, losing 1-0 in the absence of star midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, who was suspended after being sent off at Brighton one week earlier.
The England international has told BBC Sport he is working on controlling his temperament, saying: "If I'm at 70% or 60% going into a game, I can't play like that.
"I have to be 150% all the time. I always have to be on it and I like the feeling of having control in a game.
"Sometimes when we're having none of the ball I get frustrated, but that's when the control comes in and to understand what the manager wants from this moment."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chelsea – Cole Palmer
Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four times in the first half of a game as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 last week.
Since his debut for Chelsea in September last year (a home defeat to Forest), Cole Palmer has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other player (43 – 28 goals, 15 assists).
Nottingham Forest – James Ward-Prowse
Forest may need some dead-ball magic if they are to earn a result, and specialist Ward-Prowse has a fine record against the Blues.
Ward-Prowse has been involved in four goals in his last five Premier League starts against Chelsea (two goals, two assists), netting the winner on his last start at Stamford Bridge with Southampton in April 2023.
MATCH PREDICTION – CHELSEA WIN
Forest won this exact fixture 1-0 last season – only once have they ever won consecutive away league games against Chelsea, doing so on their first two visits to Stamford Bridge in 1907 and 1908.
Indeed, Chelsea have won just one of their four Premier League meetings with Forest since the latter returned to the top-flight in 2022 (two draws, one loss), though it was a 3-2 victory in the teams' last such game in May.
However, since their return to the competition, no team has lost more Premier League away games in London than Forest (10).
They have lost each of their last four in the capital, conceding three or more goals each time, which will give an in-form Blues attack plenty of confidence.
Chelsea have won nine of their last 11 Premier League games (one draw, one defeat), netting at least twice in eight of those nine victories. Indeed, the Blues are the top scorers in the league this season (15) and also have the highest shot conversion rate (20.3%).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Chelsea – 62.3%
Nottingham Forest – 17.8%
Draw – 19.8%
The Numbers Game: Ten Hag searches for much-needed turnaround at Villa Park
Manchester United are in desperate need of a Premier League win when they take on Aston Villa on Sunday.
The pressure has piled on Erik ten Hag after last week's sorry 3-0 loss at Tottenham.
United have lost three of their six league fixtures this season, winning just twice - against Southampton and Fulham - while they have lost their last two home matches in the top flight by an aggregate score of 6-0.
Their tally of seven points is their joint-fewest after six games of any Premier League season (two wins, one draw, three losses), having made identical starts under David Moyes in 2013-14 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2020-21.
They now face another of the league's top teams when they take on Villa, who are fresh from their Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich and unbeaten in four league matches.
United, meanwhile, were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw at Porto in the Europa League, with Harry Maguire's late leveller doing little to ease the pressure on Ten Hag.
Here, we crunch the numbers and dive into the Opta insights ahead of Sunday's clash.
What's expected?
As far as home defeats in the Manchester rain go, last week's capitulation against Spurs was as bad as they get.
Ten Hag looked on miserably as United, who were reduced to 10 men when Bruno Fernandes was sent off late in the first half (that red card has now been rescinded), were carved open time and time again.
Spurs generated a huge expected goals (xG) figure of 4.59 on Sunday – the third-highest United have allowed a Premier League opponent since such records began in 2009. Only versus Arsenal in December 2017 (a 3-1 win) and against Man City in October 2011 (a memorable 6-1 loss at Old Trafford), have United given up a greater quality of chances in a Premier League match.
United also saw their opponents have nine big chances – only in five previous games in Premier League history has a team had more big chances in one game (Man City v Watford 2019-20, Man Utd v Sunderland 2012-13, Arsenal v Fulham 2018-19, Arsenal v Stoke City 2015-16, Man City v Crystal Palace 2017-18 – all 10).
Villa, on the other hand, have won both of their Champions League games without conceding a goal, and though Ipswich Town fought back to draw 2-2 with them last weekend, Unai Emery's team have enjoyed a fine start to the campaign.
They have picked up 13 points in their opening six Premier League matches this season (four wins, one draw, one defeat), their best start to a season since 2008-09 under Martin O’Neill (also 13 points).
As such, it's no surprise to see Opta's supercomputer makes Villa the favourites with a 42% win probability, albeit the gap is perhaps not as big as one might expect. United came out on top in 33.2% of the model's simulations, while the threat of a draw is 24.8%.
And it is worth noting that United have a great record against the Villans.
United have won 40 Premier League games against Villa, with only the Red Devils themselves beating an opponent more often in the competition's history (41 vs Everton).
Villa have won just one of their last 25 Premier League home games against Manchester United (eight draws, 16 losses), with that victory coming in Emery's first game in charge of the club in November 2022 (3-1).
Duran's hungry like a wolf
Forgive the quite abysmal Duran Duran reference, but Villa's fans are surely going to be pulling out the 1980s hits this season if their super-sub forward Jhon Duran continues to thrive as he is right now.
Duran scored a brilliant lob to see off Bayern in midweek, taking his tally of goals for the season to five in all competitions - all of those have come from the bench. His four league strikes have come from just 2.1 xG.
He has also netted four league goals in his last four league appearances at Villa Park, all as a substitute.
The 20-year-old averages a goal every 43 minutes at Villa Park in the competition, the second-best ratio by a player at a single venue (250+ minutes played there), behind Luis Suarez at Carrow Road (a goal every 38 minutes).
Duran is averaging a goal every 39 minutes this season in the league - in comparison, 10-goal Erling Haaland averages one every 54 minutes.
The Colombian has had just 10 shots in the league this term, so he has a 40% shot-conversion rate, the best rate in the competition of any player to score more than three times.
With such a quality talent in reserve, Villa's attack will surely be licking their lips if they can get at United's defence in the same way Spurs did.
Since Emery's first Premier League game in charge, only Man City (85), Liverpool (84) and Arsenal (81) have picked up more home points than Villa (74).
Among Villa managers to take charge of five or more home top-flight matches, only European Cup-winning boss Tony Barton (70%, won 37/53) has a better home win percentage than Emery (66%, won 23/35).
Leaking like Old Trafford's roof
United have actually kept successive away clean sheets in the league, winning 3-0 against Southampton and drawing 0-0 with Crystal Palace. They last kept three away clean sheets in a row in March 2021.
However, United have lost eight Premier League matches by a margin of three or more goals under Ten Hag. Since the start of 2022-23, the only current Premier League managers to suffer more 3+ goal defeats are Gary O'Neil and Sean Dyche (nine each).
United so often leave wide open spaces in midfield and huge gaps in defence, with defenders isolated in one-v-ones.
Despite conceding only eight goals, United have an xG against of 11.04 so far in the league this season – that is the fifth-worst total in the league, lower than only the three promoted clubs and Brentford.
That is despite United allowing just 74 shots, which ranks ninth in the top flight. However, United’s average per-shot xGA is 0.14, which is the second-worst in the league, after Brighton (0.17).
Ten Hag has to find a defensive formula that works if United are to get something out of this game.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Aston Villa - Ollie Watkins
While the limelight is on Duran, it is worth mentioning that Watkins has also scored four Premier League goals this term.
Watkins has been involved in 55 goals in 67 Premier League appearances under Emery for Aston Villa (36 goals, 19 assists), with only Erling Haaland (65) and Mohamed Salah (60) scoring or assisting more goals in that time. The former Brentford attacker is looking to score in four games in a row for the first time since April 2023.
Manchester United - Bruno Fernandes
United will be delighted Fernandes will be available for this game. He was set to miss just his eighth match for the club since his debut in February 2020, with the Red Devils winless in their last four (one draw, three losses) and failing to score in their last three without the Portuguese international in the team.
Fernandes has had 17 shots in the Premier League this season, but is yet to score.
That tally of shots is the most any player who is yet to score this season has had across the entirety of Europe's top five leagues this season.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
