Three Chelsea stars who shone vs Burnley as Joe Cole lauds ‘outstanding’ duo | OneFootball

Pedro Neto, Andrey Santos and Marc Guiu all caught the eye as Chelsea beat Burnley on Saturday lunchtime, with Joe Cole reserving special praise for two of those stars.

Goals from Neto and Enzo Fernandez saw Chelsea pick up a 2-0 win at Turf Moor, putting them just three points behind leaders Arsenal before the north London derby on Sunday. Burnley caused Chelsea problems early on, but the Blues took the lead in the 37th minute when Neto scored a diving header after a great cross from Jamie Gittens.

Neto hit the post in the second half after good play by Santos and Fernandez. The latter sent Neto through on goal and his low right-footed drive beat goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, only to come back off the post.

The game started to get scrappy late on as Burnley pushed for an equaliser, but Fernandez doubled Chelsea’s advantage to ensure they took all three points back to west London.

It was a great team goal that started with Malo Gusto and Robert Sanchez keeping possession under pressure in the box. Neto then charged down the right flank before playing in substitute striker Guiu.

He pushed his way past Axel Tuanzebe, showing great strength and speed, before setting up Fernandez for a relatively simple finish.

Neto was bright all game, scoring the opener, playing a role in the second goal and working hard to stretch the Burnley defence.

But Santos won the man of the match award as he did well to replace Moises Caicedo – an incredibly tough task.

Chelsea’s midfield was slightly more open than usual, but Santos was excellent defensively, winning tackles and intercepting opposition passes.

The 21-year-old performed well enough that Maresca was able to rest Caicedo for the entire match, in preparation for crucial games against Barcelona and Arsenal.

In addition to Santos, Guiu staked his place for a starting role. Guiu stretched the Burnley defence more than Liam Delap with his runs in behind, and showed maturity when teeing up Fernandez.

Marc Guiu, Andrey Santos impress Joe Cole

On TNT Sports‘ post-match coverage, ex-Chelsea winger Cole said: “Guiu is outstanding in this situation, he shows patience, decision-making…

“It’s very tempting as a young striker to come directly to the ball, he stays away purposely. And that gives him the space to run into.

“He takes two looks over his shoulder, he’s looking for a pass. With his quality, if a first-time pass would have been on, I think he would’ve feathered it [into the penalty area].

“He’s like, ‘right, I’m just going to take you down here and use my strength, and power and ability.’

“By the way, the composure. For a young striker, it’s absolute silver service for Fernandez.

“Guiu deserves a lot of credit for that because he showed maturity, decision-making, timing, pace in that clip.

“Chelsea fans should be very excited, a very good young striker we’ve got.”

When asked about Santos, Cole added: “He was outstanding. It wasn’t much on the ball, he was very tidy and efficient, but off the ball…

“We questioned, ‘how would Chelsea react without Caicedo?’ But he [Santos] was absolutely outstanding.

“Every time there was a bit of danger he sniffed it out. I think he’s got a natural ability with this.

“Now Chelsea have got Enzo, Romeo Lavia, Caicedo and Santos. Is there a better collection of four midfielders in the league? I don’t think there is.”

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