Romelu Lukaku has spent much of the last couple of weeks hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons, a consequence of the forward suggesting that he was unhappy with life at Stamford Bridge.
However, as it stands, the 28-year-old has seemingly been welcomed back into the fold by Thomas Tuchel and supporters alike, a necessary response given that the player only penned a long-term contract in the summer.
Nevertheless, Chelsea paid £97.5m for Lukaku's services for games such as the one against Manchester City at the weekend, the Blues requiring a big performance from the Belgian as they bid to chase down the Premier League leaders.
Ahead of the showdown at the Etihad Stadium, Sports Mole takes a look at how Lukaku has performed on his previous appearances against Man City.
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While Lukaku has featured in as many as 17 matches against Man City, his win-loss record is not as favourable as you may expect.
Lukaku has featured on the winning side on just three occasions, twice in an Everton shirt and once for Manchester United when they came on top in a five-goal thriller at the Etihad Stadium on April 7, 2018.
Although he did not get on the scoresheet in that contest, Lukaku netted in the games for Everton, a 2-1 triumph in the EFL Cup semi-finals in 2016 and a 4-0 success in the Premier League 12 months later.
All things considered, however, Lukaku possesses a poor scoring return against City, netting just five times in 14 starts and three substitute outings.
Aside from the matches already mentioned, Lukaku scored in each of Everton's top-flight encounters during the 2013-14 campaign, albeit in games which ended in defeat.
Lukaku replicated that during 2016-17, but he has also failed to score on nine occasions when he has completed the 90 minutes.
His current goalless streak stands at five games, and Saturday's game will represent five years to the day since his last goal against Pep Guardiola's team.
Darren Plant
