Marc Cucurella is struggling to handle pressure (Details)

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella is struggling with the pressure at Stamford Bridge, admits journalist Simon Phillips.

The 24-year-old joined the west London club for big money during the summer but is yet to justify his price tag.

Cucurella is not in the best of form right now. Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat against Arsenal means the Blues have now gone four games in the Premier League without a win.

Cucurella joined Chelsea from Brighton in a deal worth over £60m (via BBC Sport), and played in all four of those matches, including the humiliating 4-1 defeat against Brighton.

Phillips thinks Cucurella is struggling with the pressure that comes with playing for Chelsea and feels he is also lacking a bit of confidence at this moment in time.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said: “With Cucurella, he’s a proven Premier League player. He got player of the season last year at Brighton and he’s consistently done it at a high-quality level, and I think he will continue to do that at Chelsea.

“But right now, I do sense that he might be struggling with the pressure of it all and a little bit with confidence and mentality. That’s what it looks like to me from the outside.”

The 24-year-old is obviously not playing well right now. On the ex-Brighton star, former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor recently said on talkSPORT: “When I watch Cucurella, since he’s been at Chelsea… maybe [there are] two games maximum where he looked ok.

“He got dragged off after 36 minutes against Manchester United and was sacrificed for [the change of] formation.”

He also added: “There’s been too much rotation and Cucurella looks like a bad £60m spent by Chelsea for me.”

Cucurella probably should not be in the Potter’s starting XI right now. There is no other natural replacement for him at present.