He also netted his first Premier League goal in a big home victory, over Stoke City, and he ended his first campaign with 35 appearances to his name and an FA Cup winner’s medal after we defeated Manchester United at Wembley.
Zappacosta’s involvement during the 2018/19 campaign was limited to the domestic cup competitions and the Europa League, although the Italian impressed when called upon due to his ability to get forward at pace and deliver dangerous balls from wide areas.
In the Carabao Cup win over Derby County, two of our three goals came from Zappacosta crosses, and it was another of his deliveries which led to Ruben Loftus-Cheek being brought down for a penalty during the FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest.
Used largely off the bench in the latter stages of that season, Zappacosta came on in the second leg of our Europa League semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt, adding some much-needed energy to proceedings, and again in the final against Arsenal when the scoring was complete.