Chelsea’s visit to Burnley pretty much went as expected, with the Blues winning to nil but the hosts offering their usual stubbornness at Turf Moor.
Here’s what we saw in the Gameweek 12 curtain-raiser.
WHY CAICEDO WAS A SUB…
One player we didn’t see on the pitch in Saturday’s early kick-off was Moises Caicedo (£6.1m).
Andrey Santos (£4.5m) stepped in instead, producing a very impressive showing in Caicedo’s place.
Unsurprisingly, Caicedo’s midweek exertions across the globe were cited as the main reason for his benching.
“Nothing [to do with Barcelona and Arsenal]. The reason he is not in the first XI is that he came back Thursday night from Ecuador, from the national team, then just a light session with us yesterday, and the reason he is not playing is that it is impossible. To protect him a little bit.” – Enzo Maresca on Moises Caicedo’s benching
In the end, Caicedo didn’t even come off the bench. This was the first time that Maresca hadn’t called on him in any capacity in a Premier League game. Don’t expect him to make a habit of it…
“I won’t do it anymore, it’s the last time!” – Enzo Maresca on not using Moises Caicedo
…AND WHY JAMES WAS TAKEN OFF
Reece James (£5.6m) did start – but he didn’t get a chance to bank clean sheet points as he was taken off at the interval.
No injury, just minute management. Given the schedule ahead, it’s something that we might see again over the winter.
“We planned on 45 minutes. That’s why I said we had many reasons to be happy today, because one of the reasons was also to try to manage players. It’s not easy, because me, personally, I would like Reece to continue, but we need to protect Reece.” – Enzo Maresca on Reece James
Trevoh Chalobah (£5.1m) continued his record of starting in every league he’s been available for this season, meanwhile.
Marc Cucurella (£6.1m) caught the eye with his offensive runs. Playing a big part in Chelsea’s opener, he got forward to pop off a couple of shots of his own.
As Maresca reminded us after full-time, however, “sometimes we use the full-back in that way, sometimes in a different way”. There are weeks in which Cucurella is more restrained, tucking in as a third centre-half or inverting into central midfield, so unless he’s in Alonso-esque positions week in, week out, it’s hard to justify that price tag.
ENZO FINALLY DELIVERS ON THOSE UNDERLYING NUMBERS!
Someone who has been getting forward plenty this season is Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m). He had been ‘due’ a return for a few weeks, and he finally came through on Saturday, scoring Chelsea’s breakaway second.
He left it late, finding the net in the 88th minute, but he emerged with a long-overdue double-digit haul.
Chelsea’s form midfielder, however, is Pedro Neto (£7.1m). It’s now five attacking returns in four Gameweeks for the winger, who has quietly started every single Premier League game this season.
He nodded in Jamie Gittens‘ (£6.1m) cross to give the Blues the lead, going close to a second with a second-half shot against the post.
Unlike Caicedo, both Neto and Enzo benefited from an international break off.
“Pedro [Neto] and Enzo [Fernandez], they had a good international break in terms of recovery energy and recovery also from the injury.” – Enzo Maresca
GUIU DELIVERS AS DELAP + PEDRO STRUGGLE
Joao Pedro (£7.5m) and Liam Delap (£6.2m) both laboured in attack, the former playing behind the latter.
Following that blank, and with the following (mostly) tough run ahead of him, no surprise to see Pedro being jettisoned by legions of his owners. He’s the most-sold forward of Gameweek 13, indeed.
With Delap toiling up top and the games coming thick and fast in upcoming weeks, could Marc Guiu (£4.2m) see more game-time? The trip to Leeds United, the middle match in a three-game week, is certainly a possibility for extended minutes.
Guiu made a big impression off the bench, doing brilliantly to set up Fernandez for the result-sealing second goal.
This Maresca ‘quote’ is too good to be true, though – don’t believe everything/anything you read on X…
RINSE AND REPEAT FROM BURNLEY
In what is becoming a trademark Burnley performance, certainly at home, the Clarets offered plenty of resistance and graft but little of quality in attack. Zian Flemming (£5.3m), who is in a bit of form, had their only real good chance, skying over a 69th-minute effort.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see Scott Parker’s side have scored as many as 14 goals this season. However, they’ve massively overachieved on their rock-bottom xG tally of 8.74, and nine of their 14 strikes have come against Sunderland, Leeds, Wolves and West Ham.
At the back, Maxime Esteve (£3.9m) banked DefCon points for the sixth time this season. Only four defenders can better that.
