7 key passes and 3 big chances – this was Chelsea playmaker’s most creative game yet | OneFootball

Pedro Neto got a lot of praise for him performance as a striker last night as Chelsea beat Southampton 4-0, and Marc Cucurella also impressed as a left back inverted into midfield.

But perhaps the shining light of the whole game was Enzo Fernandez, who had an all action, box to box performance to be proud of.

His highlights from the game show a dynamic presence always looking to play forwards, either moving with the ball or just moving the ball, while some of his colleagues were happy to go sideways.

His stats were just silly by the end – 7 key passes, 4/5 accurate long balls, 3 big chances created. Defensively he was solid too, although Southampton barely offered any attacking effort at times.

It was just a shame for him that Palmer and some of the other attackers let him down – he should have had a couple of assists in the game.

You can see the highlights in the clip embedded here:

Fernandez can go up another level when Chelsea are back at full strength

Enzo Fernandez stats from Chelsea’s win over Southampton.

The next stage for Enzo is getting these performances strung together regularly, and that may require Romeo Lavia to return to full fitness. The Argentine’s best run of form this season came when Lavia had joined him and Moises Caicedo in the middle when Chelsea were in possession, allowing him to burst forward and attack the box more, as we saw against Aston Villa at the weekend and last night.

We won’t always be playing a rotten Southampton team which allows so much space in the middle, so having Lavia back will add some essential defensive cover. Enzo can then feel free to attack the box and get up alongside Neto or whoever is leading the line at that point.