After a generally miserable September, October certainly started a big deal for Chelsea.
Following three Premier League matches, including consecutive losses, the Blues bounced back in some style on Saturday, beating Champions Liverpool 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Moisés Caiceco defeated deadlock early with an absolute rocket. With Liverpool just equalising right after the time mark, most onlookers, including Gary Neville on Sky Sports commentary, were hoping that visitors would claim victory.
That certainly wasn’t the case as Enzo Fernandez saw Header blow the post, then Mark Cukrera’s Low Cross went home by Estevan Willian at the back post, causing wild celebrations at Matthew Harding Stands and others.
Matchweiner’s Estevan gets a lot of headlines.
The importance of Kaiseko for Chelsea
As stated on Liverpool’s official website, yes, the Reds agreed to a £110 million contract with Brighton in August 2023 to sign Kaised. The Ecuadorians simply joined Chelsea in their place, highlighting what Merseysiders missed by scoring this spectacular strike.
Even if you park your target on one side, Caiceceo puts in a great display and controls the midfield alongside Fernandez, highlighting why Chelsea wanted to spend more than £220 million to hire the duo.
Speaking about Sky Sports after full time, Jamie Redknap labeled Caseko as “one of the best in the world”, adding that he doesn’t own it “incredibly” and concluded that he “has no weakness.”
It’s fair to say that a lot of money was spent as Todd Boley and Clearlake’s capital took over the club three years ago, but few players have proven value like the Ecuadorians.
But one of the alumni of Chelsea’s Homemade Cobham Academy has also come to the forefront.
Chelsea defender stars against Liverpool
Famous for having the biggest team in football, Enzo Maresca was bare bones in the centre-back front by the end of his famous victory on Saturday.
First, Trevo Charova’s red card against Brighton means he’s stopped, while Tosin Adalabioyo, Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill all missed out due to injuries.
Then, during the match, both the first defensive pairings, namely, both members of Benoît Badiashile and Josh Acheampong, were kicked out due to injuries, so by the time of the winning goal, Jorrel Hato was with Reese James at the heart of the Defense of Defense.
The club captain began the evening in his normal position at right back. Maresca tried Malo Gusto in the middle, but wherever England International was unfolding, he made outstanding displays as shown in the table below.
Reese James vs Liverpool | ||
|---|---|---|
statistics | James | Match ranks |
Tackle | 5 | First |
Defensive behavior | 10 | First |
block | 1 | First |
Intercept | 2 | Second |
Key Pass | 2 | Fourth |
The exact path | 50 | Second |
The duel was fought | 10 | Third |
The duel won | 8 | First |
A duel won | 2 | First |
touch | 83 | First |
Sofa score rating | 7.2 | No. 5 |
Statistics via Sofascore | ||
James was the key to Chelsea’s victory, as the table documents.
He mentioned that tackles, defensive actions, blocks and duels won, and the airborne duel won, completing the pass to the second of the player on the pitch behind only Bilgil van Dik.
This highlights not only his defensive insight, but also his ball quality.
Speaking at TNT Sports, following Chelsea’s Conference League victory over Covenhuben at Parken in March, Joe Cole claimed James is as good as the world’s right-back.
In any case, in the fullback or in the middle, James emphasized that he needs to be on the pitch as much as possible, acknowledging that he must be carefully administered his minutes, taking into account the history of his dangerous injuries.
So, all transfer windows are dominated by Chelsea spending hundreds of millions on new signatures, but the captain who has been with the club since the age of six remains a key figure.