Romelu Lukaku: Chelsea feel they have found the missing piece to the puzzle

Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku celebrates scoring his first goal in his second spell at Chelsea. 

At the second time of asking, Stamford Bridge finally feels like home for Romelu Lukaku and the benefits of the reunion between club and player are already evident.

Chelsea’s impressive turnaround during the second half of last season under Thomas Tuchel was achieved without the presence of a regular goalscorer and it still seems remarkable that a top four finish and Champions League success was achieved by a side whose leading scorer in the Premier League was Jorginho, the penalty taker, with just seven goals.

While Tuchel drew everything out of the squad he inherited from Frank Lampard, there was clearly one glaring area that could be improved. Enter Lukaku for a €114m fee from Inter Milan, and concerns about a lack of cutting edge have quickly disappeared.

The Belgium forward, who left the west London club for Everton in 2014 having spent virtually the whole of the previous two seasons out on loan, has already scored three goals in his first three appearances following his return, including two outstanding finishes on his second home debut against Aston Villa, ending his 10-year wait for a first goal at Stamford Bridge.

Tuchel acknowledged after Saturday’s game that Lukaku’s double were the type of goals Chelsea would not have scored last season, and it was hard to disagree. Timo Werner might have had the pace to move on to Mateo Kovacic’s superb through ball in the 15th minute, but the German lacks too often lacks the composure Lukaku then demonstrated to put his side ahead.

Then in added time, the Belgian’s powerful, rising drive from the edge of the area was the shot of a striker full of confidence, something too often lacking in Chelsea’s forward players last season.

“With players like Romelu, you understand the movement,” said Kovacic, describing his link with Lukaku for the first goal. “He made a great move and the ball in the end was good and we scored a perfect goal, so it is amazing to have such a big player in our squad.

“He is a great addition, a great character, and I don’t need to talk about what kind of player he is. He proved himself wherever he was. He is a big player for us and I hope he will continue like that.”

Kovacic, who added to his assist with his first league goal in two years when he capitalised on a poor back-pass by Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings, also highlighted how Lukaku’s role provided the flexibility to change tack after a difficult first half for Tuchel’s side.

“The manager changed it at half-time because he saw that we struggled to come out playing like we usually do,” added the midfielder. “We changed our style of play a little and we played a little bit of long balls to Romelu, so we adapted quite well.”

Villa were forced to play the supporting tole to Lukaku’s homecoming but might have poured cold water on the celebrations had they made more of a promising first-half performance that gave Dean Smith, the manager, cause for optimism. “For me this was our best performance of the season,” he said. “Today was a big step forwards.”