Chelsea brace yourselves: Samuel Eto’o could start scoring for fun now

Having won three Champions League winners medals and boasting a wealth of individual accolades, Chelsea fans were understandably excited when Jose Mourinho recruited Samuel Eto’o to lead the line at Stamford Bridge this summer. Yes, he is entering the latter stages of his career and yes, he had gained a reputation as a prima donna during his time in Russia with Anzhi, but deep down there was hope that the four-time African Player of the Year still had enough in him to grab the goals in west London.

However, after his opening five games resulted in a grand total of zero goals, as well as the fact that Romelu Lukaku – a forward that Mourinho had shipped out to Everton on loan for the season – was scoring freely, the excitement quickly turned to frustration.

His movement is improving, though, as he got used to the plethora of creative talent sitting behind him and he broke his barren run against Cardiff with a cleverly-taken goal in a 4-1 mauling.

Samuel Eto’o Goal Scored v Cardiff

Two substitute appearances against Manchester City and Newcastle followed, but with his confidence up and a place in the starting line up looking more likely, Chelsea’s home tie against Schalke on Wednesday evening was always going to be the Cameroonian’s stage.

Although the first had a huge slice of luck, Eto’o struck twice to put Chelsea back on top of Group E with just two games to play.

It looked as if a resilient Schalke side would strike first, but after Timo Hildebrand stood with the ball at his feet for what seemed a ridiculous amount of time, Eto’o put the German under pressure and his clearance cannoned off the striker before nestling into the net.

Eto’o’s movement was positive throughout. His heat map shows his determination to tuck into the left flank and strengthen the Blues’ defensive unit, but when he received the ball in front of goal he wasn’t afraid of opening up space and having a dig.

Eto’o had five shots at goal, if you can include his opener, two of which were from outside the area. Eto’o is a player who has often relied on his pace to exploit the space behind the backline, but as his legs have aged he has been forced to utilise another of his key assets – his ball control.

The 32-year-old is able to wriggle himself pockets of space in the box before tucking the ball past the keeper, and although he was having a tough time in front of goal before this week, he has racked up a shot accuracy of 55% from his 11 shots in the Premier League – seven of which have come from inside 12-yards – and 88% in the Champions League from his eight shots – seven of which were from close range.

Samuel Eto’o Champions League Shot Accuracy

His second of the game came when Willian slid him through after a powerful run through the middle, and Eto’o casually took it into his stride and fizzed it across goal and into the far corner. Despite spending a huge amount of his 77 minutes in a wider role, Eto’o was still able to strike twice and made a key pass, and the display has injected a glimmer of hope back into the Chelsea fans regarding his capabilities.

His performance has all the makings of a turning point and if he keeps his spot this weekend as West Brom come to town it may well be worth sticking a few pennies on the former Inter man scoring his second league goal of the season.