Mykhailo Mudryk spent the first two months of the season losing regular games of the crossbar challenge to his 51-year-old manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea's head coach revealed Mudryk had become so disheartened by his constant failures in these tests of accuracy that he wanted to stop playing last month. Pochettino insisted they carry on and the losing streak halted. Although Mudryk could only draw with the former centre-back who retired in 2006.
These post-training games were ploys to rebuild Mudryk's dwindled confidence after an underwhelming first six months in London. Pochettino may not have been dethroned as crossbar king but Mudryk's newfound self-belief has coincided with a sequence of three goals in five games for club and country. However, plenty of questions have been raised about his most recent strike.
With Chelsea in the ascendancy at home to Arsenal on Saturday, Mudryk scurried down the left wing. Wide of the penalty area and only ten yards from the byline, Mudryk swung his weaker left foot through the ball. Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling were lurking in the box but the ball arced over Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya and straight into the net to make it 2-0.
Mudryk turned towards the heaving masses at Stamford Bridge to soak up the acclaim. Arsenal's unlikely comeback - which only began once Chelsea's goalscorer had been substituted - took some of the focus away from Mudryk's strike but one question still lingered: Did he mean it?
What has Mauricio Pochettino said about Mykhailo Mudryk's goal for Chelsea against Arsenal?
Pochettino could see the question coming a mile off and was quick to voice his opinion. "To be honest, he try," Mudryk's personal motivator unsurprisingly said. "He knew the position of the keeper and it was possible to score from this position."
Not once did the Ukraine international flick his gaze towards Arsenal's goalkeeper. There is the possibility that Chelsea's players had been briefed pre-game about Raya's tendency to creep forward and anticipate a cross. But why attempt to exploit this potential weakness from the corner flag while two blue shirts were in position to attack a delivery?
What have Mudryk's Chelsea teammates said about his goal against Arsenal?
Palmer very intentionally sent Raya the wrong way from the penalty spot in a dominant first half for Chelsea. The Manchester City academy graduate was not lacking in confidence, wrestling the ball off Sterling to assume spot-kick duties. However, he wasn't quite so convinced that Mudryk had the same purposefulness.
"He might have meant it - I don't know," Palmer shrugged post-game. "If he meant it, fair play to him." It's hardly a ringing endorsement of Mudryk's impish intentions.
What has Mikel Arteta said about Mykhailo Mudryk's goal for Chelsea against Arsenal?
"I haven't seen it live again," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted straight after the match, "we looked at it from the angle, it's a very strange angle to concede from. I didn't know if it was a deflection or the trajectory of the ball."
Further replays would have shown Arteta that none of his players impact the flight of the ball but the second viewing of Saturday's encounter will not be an easy watch for the Arsenal boss. "We didn't play with enough purpose and clarity," Arteta conceded post-game. There is little clarity on the purpose of Mudryk's attempt (at a cross or shot).
Reaction to Mykhailo Mudryk's goal for Chelsea against Arsenal?
Gary Neville took Mudryk's fluke or moment of flair as an opportunity to stoke the flames of his fury against every goalkeeper in the game. "His position - Raya - is not good enough, he's far too far forward, that is not good from the Arsenal goalkeeper and that should not end up in the back of the net," Neville seethed on Sky Sports. "It's meant as a cross for Raheem Sterling from Mudryk, he doesn't mean to chip him but the fact he can chip him isn't right. He's too far forward there's no doubt about that."
Raya is not the first Arsenal goalkeeper to be befuddled by a cross-cum-shot. David Seaman was undone by Ronaldinho's mishit while playing for England at the 2002 World Cup and lent his support to Raya via social media.
BBC's Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker wasn't having it at all. "Absolutely no way did he mean that," the former England international sniffed. "No chance." Micah Richards predictably offered the counterpoint while Alan Shearer, still coasting on a high from Newcastle United's 4-0 thumping of Crystal Palace earlier that day, chortled in the background.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Did Mykhailo Mudryk mean to lob David Raya in Chelsea vs Arsenal?.
