IN CASE ANYONE IS LIVING UNDER a rock, Christian Pulisic has been unbelievable since the restart and his first season at Chelsea has been an unquestionable success and his latest eye-opening display came on Wednesday where the Hershey native shined for Chelsea in a loss to Liverpool.

Elsewhere, there was triumph for Cameron Carter-Vickers who achieved the most significant accomplishment of his career in helping to guide Luton Town to a previously unthinkable survival in the Championship.

For Tim Ream, it was business as usual as Fulham wrapped up the regular season in fourth place and will now prepare for the Championship playoffs with its semifinal coming against Cardiff City.

For Antonee Robinson and Wigan, the news was unfortunate. Despite a wonderful rally since the restart where the players showed a lot of heart, it’s 1-1 draw with Fulham meant Wigan would get relegated due to a 12-point penalty for entering a very murky administration.

Elsewhere, earlier in the week Hobro were relegated out of the Danish Superliga and that made an impact to two Americans – neither of whom are likely to be on the team next year.

Speaking of Americans who could be on the move, Matt Miazga started for Reading in its season finale, a 4-1 loss to Swansea City to conclude his loan.

Here is some news, analysis, and statistic on the news above.

Looking at Pulisic’s season

By now everyone has seen Christian Pulisic’s goal and even better assist for Chelsea. The Hershey native came off the bench in the 59^th minute and gave Chelsea a chance to actually get a result. Despite coming up short in a 5-3 loss, all the talk was on Pulisic.

Just in case you haven’t seen what he did, here it is.

Christian Pulisic’s assist vs Liverpool just now is artwork pic.twitter.com/4E3dBrpOE6

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) July 22, 2020

And then the goal

And here is the goal.. Pulisic. Game on pic.twitter.com/Vpde7g1tW7

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) July 22, 2020

Here are the numbers:

In 1649 minutes in the Premier League, Pulisic has 9 goals and 6 assists. In the Champions League, he has 1 goal and 2 assists over just 366 minutes. Combined between the two major competitions, Pulisic has 10 goals and 8 assists in 1915 minutes.

Pulisic has now more than earned the respect of his teammates and the elite teams he is playing against. He’s fitting in and dominating games that involve some of the most expensive players on the planet.

In this game, Pulisic had great numbers

• 30 minutes
• 23 touches
• 3 shots
• 1 goal
• 1 assist
• 3 dribbles
• 1 foul
• 6/6 passing
• 4/4 passing in the final third

Without a doubt, Chelsea has zero regrets paying the astronomical transfer fee it paid for Pulisic. He’s delivering against some of the biggest teams in the world.

Carter-Vickers & Luton Town prevail

Despite being only 22 years old, Cameron Carter-Vickers has played 7495 minutes in the Championship (he’s also played another 926 minutes in domestic cups in England). All of these minutes in England’s second flight have come while on loan from Tottenham and he has typically played for midtable clubs with no chance of being promoted nor having any threat of relegation – until now.

Back in January, Carter-Vickers joined a Luton Town that was destined to get relegated and was deep into last-place of the Championship. But Carter-Vickers was terrific for Luton Town and he gave his team chances to win every game.

On Wednesday, Luton Town faced Blackburn Rovers needing a result and help in a Charlton Athletic loss to achieve a previously unthinkable survival.

In the end, Luton Town found a way to win and achieved survival. In the 15 games which Carter-Vickers started for Luton Town, it won six games, drew six games, and lost only three. His arrival marked an enormous turnaround for the club. In just a few months, he has become wildly popular with the club’s supporters.

What is next for Carter-Vickers? It is hard to think Luton Town has the money to purchase him – although it would love to be able to do so. It is hard to think Tottenham has use for him right now either and there is just one more year left on his contract.

The most likely scenario is that Carter-Vickers has probably done enough to catch the eye of a team further up the chain in the Championship and he might be able to compete for promotion. He’s played so much in this league, he established and known.

Heartbreak for Wigan

Unfortunately for Wigan Athletic, it was a heartbreaking day. Despite a 12-point penalty, the surging club could have avoided relegation with a win over Fulham on the season’s final day. Sadly for The Lactics, they played to a 1-1 draw and are relegated – but reserve the right to an appeal.

The way Wigan played down the stretch was beyond admirable. The club was actually flirting with relegation for most of the season and then refused to lose. Despite dealing with a scandalous ownership fallout and administration, the players blocked everything out and used it as motivation for a big run.

For Antonee Robinson, all this has been compounded with a whirlwind of other events including his failed transfer to AC Milan and a heart condition that required a procedure.

Robinson has shown a lot of growth this season on the defensive side of the ball. He always had the ability to surge into the attack but it was his tackles, interception, and clearance numbers which have increased.

Against Fulham, Robinson had three key passes, two dribbles, and an 82.4% pass completion percentage (28/34 overall and 10/12 in the attacking third). But defensively he also added two tackles, three clearances, and three interceptions.

There is heartbreak for Robinson over the plight of the club but the English-American will certainly be on the move in the months ahead. A move the Premier League is certainly within question because he has been that good. His improvement has also been so steady that he has shown no stagnation.

Ream and Fulham to the playoff

While Fulham had a slim chance at earning promotion on the season’s final day, that did not happen. With the 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic, Fulham will head to the promotional playoffs hoping to recreate the magic of 2018 when the club earned promotion to the Premier League. Tim Ream has played well in these situations before and will now hope to do so again.

In the semifinals, Fulham will take on Cardiff City with the first leg happening on Monday, July 27. Brentford and Swansea City will meet in the other semifinal.

Other notes

Matt Miazga started for Reading in a 4-1 loss to Swansea City. It was a tough loss due to Reading playing with 10 players for the final 50 minutes. Miazga has been at the club the last 18 months and is unlikely to return.

Hobro were relegated earlier this week out of the Danish Superliga with a playoff loss to Lyngby. The U.S. U-23 duo of Emmanuel Sabbi and Christian Cappis both started and had nice seasons. What did Hobro in was its 15 draws in 32 games. Hobro fought hard and had some nice draws but rarely found the big wins. Sabbi is off to OB within Denmark while Cappis is almost certainly going to be on the move as well as he impressed in Denmark playing the No. 8.