Chelsea debutant Lewis Hall has admitted that he was ‘shaking’ ahead of making his Blues debut against Chesterfield on Saturday.
The 17-year-old was handed his first appearance for the west London club against the National League side and caught the eye with an excellent performance - with Thomas Tuchel’s men picking up a 5-1 victory and progressing to the fourth round of the competition.
He even managed to pick up an assist as he teed up Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku in the first half.
Hall’s performance certainly indicated a player with very little nerves - although that was not quite the case with the youngster having admitted he was a touch jittery at the prospect of making his first appearance for the Blues.
Talking to Chelsea’s official website, he said: “Ever since I was a kid here at Chelsea, this is what I’ve worked towards so to finally get the opportunity is an amazing feeling and to do it in front of my family and all the fans here at Stamford Bridge is just incredible.
“I found out I was starting during the day. We had a meeting where the manager announced the starting 11 and I was really nervous straight away.
“As soon as I saw my name on the team sheet, I was shaking and everything. I had to take a couple of hours to process it.”
Hall revealed that his focus immediately switched to the game though, and paid credit to supporters for their backing.
“Being at home, the fans gave me confidence in myself, especially towards the beginning of the game when I kept it simple and the fans recognised that,” the youngster continued.
“They were behind us all so that gave me the confidence to show what I could do.”
Hall will certainly hope to have caught the eye enough to be handed more opportunities to play for the Chelsea first-team.
Despite being full of praise for his performance against Chesterfield, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel has called for caution.
The German said: "It's good. There is no need to talk it down artificially but there is no need to get super overwhelmed because we played against a fifth division team and he is part of a strong squad."
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