Frank Lampard has urged Chelsea fans to 'calm down' over the fact that Christian Pulisic's game time has dropped off in recent weeks.
The 21-year-old American has played just once in six matches for the Blues, which came in the 7-1 win over Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.
The winger has been an unused substitute on several occasions and was left out of the 18-man squad in the 2-1 Champions League victory at Lille on Wednesday night.
Since coming into the team in the summer, Pulisic has made four Premier League appearances, including three starts, and another in the Super Cup, with one league assist to his name.
Many Chelsea have fans have called on Lampard to start using the £58million signing more, especially as the Chelsea boss has been keen to use the younger players more.
But the Blues boss has defended omitting Pulisic over the past few weeks and called for patience over the use of the American.
"This is one of my difficult problems in this job," Lampard said. "I have good players and everyone has a story.
"Christian Pulisic has a price tag, Ross Barkley is an international player, Mason Mount is an international player, Callum Hudson-Odoi just signed a new contract, Bayern Munich wanted to buy him last summer. He’s an international player.
"Ruben Loftus-Cheek will come back and be an international player. I cant pick them all and be in the game, unfortunately.
"All I have to demand of them is that they show me in training and show me that they are worthy of the place.
And that’s not here to show me I’m a hard taskmaster. It’s just my job. Next week you might be asking me about two other names. It’s the competition that we have.
"He’s [Pulisic] level. I spoke to him two days before the Grimsby game and was very clear about the standards and we have to give him the fact that he’s moved country and moved leagues. And he’s as young as all the young players we keep talking about. He’s just turned 21.
"So I think everyone, if anyone is getting too excited about this, they should calm down because he’s started five games for us and what he needs to do is work, work daily, work to show within the group that he deserves to play.
"As they all do, as all the players do. That’s what the focus on everyone is."
