The one bright spot from Chelsea’s painful defeat is fulfilling his potential | OneFootball

Chelsea’s defeat to Brighton yesterday was so depressing that it’s hard to see the upsides.

Once again there were defensive mistakes, a silly red card, a lack of experience, a late collapse. Despair from the sidelines and bad murmurs in the crowd. It feels like we’re starting the same spiral from last season, just without the early season points banked to cope with it.

However there were some bright spots. One of those was without winger Estevao Willian, getting his first proper minutes in a few weeks.

Estevao shines again despite horrid context

Estevao Willian takes on Calvin Bassey. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

After his cruel early removal against Manchester United a week ago, Estevao was due a start yesterday and he didn’t disappoint.

Right from the start he was taking on Brighton defenders – and usually winning. His incredibly burst of speed and trickery left both Joel Veltman and Ferdi Kadioglu for dead at different times. The latter was given a devastating nutmeg on the halfway line.

In the battle with the league’s other top dribbler, Kaoru Mitoma, Estevao came out on top.

The Brazilian wasn’t perfect – once he shot when should have cut the ball back to Enzo Fernandez, a few times his final ball wasn’t good – but he was doing exactly what he was in the team for. He broke their defence with his runs repeatedly, and brought the attacking spark we usually lack while Cole Palmer is out.

Winger must start whenever possible for Chelsea

What Estevao needs now is experience – he needs to play in the same position with roughly the same players every week. He needs to learn their tendencies and them his. Of course as an 18 year old he needs to be treated carefully, but we still hope to see him play pretty regularly now. He’s not just there to improve either – he’s our most effective attacking option right now.