‘Needs to understand the game better’ – Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino sets Mykhalio Mudryk challenge after 21st goalless outing from £89m winger

The Blues invested £89 million ($110m) worth of faith in the jet-heeled winger back in the January transfer window when beating London rivals Arsenal to his signature and putting a big-money deal in place with Shakhtar Donetsk.

Mudryk has struggled to get to grips with the Premier League, and posted another blank in Chelsea’s goalless draw with Bournemouth, and Pochettino has told Sky Sports of the learning process that the 22-year-old is still going through: “He is improving. He still needs to learn in the Premier League, it's very fast. He needs to understand the game better, try to be more connected sometimes with the team. We need to give the time and tools for him to improve during the season.”

Chelsea did create chances against Bournemouth, but failed to take any of them. Pochettino added on his side’s collective attacking faults: “We need to be tough in the way that we are trying. We need to prove our efficiency in front of goal. We need to be calm also but these circumstances are not always easy for the players. We cannot blame anyone. In the last 10 minutes, our full-backs and some defensive players wanted to do the jobs of the offensive players. Sometimes we couldn't risk the point. I prefer that to being relaxed and calm. They care a lot about the game and situation. The effort was really good.”

Chelsea, who have splashed out £1 billion (£1.2bn) on new recruits over the last 12 months, have now failed to score in back-to-back Premier League games and have collected just five points from as many fixtures – leaving them 14th in the table.