Thursday 4 January 2018 06:04, UK
Sky Sports experts Gary Neville and Thierry Henry had their say on a difficult night for Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
The striker failed to convert three big chances in the Premier League game at the Emirates and was punished as Hector Bellerin's injury-time equaliser denied Chelsea the victory.
Morata missed a gilt-edged early chance when he shot wide from a Victor Moses long ball; missed a second one-on-one opportunity when the score was 1-1; and then had a golden chance to win the match after Arsenal's second goal, but shot straight at Petr Cech.
Neville believes Morata lacked conviction in those big moments.
"The story for Chelsea will be Morata," he said on the Gary Neville Podcast.
"There were three big, big chances. There were two one-one-ones with the goalkeeper and I always think you can miss those, of course you can, they are difficult and you have a lot of time to think.
"The conviction, the purpose and the intent of knowing what you are going to do… it hasn't quite happened.
"When you think about Thierry Henry, when he used to take one-on-ones he was always the favourite. When Morata was going through on goal tonight, you thought the goalkeeper was the favourite."
Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte backed the forward after the match, praising his effort and arguing that he was unlucky.
But Sky Sports pundit Henry said Morata could have "easily" had a hat-trick if things had gone his way.
"I know what Conte is doing, he's always going to back up his player and praise him because that's the way he should be at the end of the game as a manager," Henry said.
"But nothing went his way today. His first touch wasn't that great, he wasn't holding the ball well. You can see a striker not being great when he takes too many touches to put the ball down.
"The hardest thing in the game is when you have time to score as a striker. It sounds crazy. One of the best to do it was the Brazilian Ronaldo, he used to put the goalkeeper down.
"But the more you think about what you need to do, the more difficult it becomes. When he has to score a reaction goal, with quick reaction he is good at it.
"Sometimes when he is in one-v-one situations - apart from the goal he scored at Stoke where he finished that well - he tends to think too much about what he needs to do and then the goalkeeper is too close to you and it becomes very difficult.
"If he had a good game today he could have had three, easily."
