Enzo Fernandez might have finally, belatedly arrived at Chelsea.
He scored a beauty of a free-kick as he ran the show in Chelsea’s stunning win over Aston Villa in their FA Cup fourth-round replay. He might have just rescued his manager.
The pressure on Mauricio Pochettino has been palpable after Chelsea were battered 4-2 at home by Wolves on Sunday, a defeat that saw Gary O’Neil’s men leapfrog them in the Premier League table.
In the league, the Blues have been hopeless at best, finding some respite in the domestic cup competitions. With that being said, nobody expected them to bounce back from Sunday’s disappointment so emphatically at Villa Park on Wednesday night.
Paul Merson – an Arsenal icon but lifelong Chelsea supporter – insisted there was “not even a chance” Pochettino’s men would progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup, insisting they “aren’t a team” and that a victory would come down to “a bit of brilliance from Cole Palmer”, which would “cover over the cracks”.
The latter statement is an important one, as is this statement from Merson: “You have got two players in the middle of the park, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, that cost over £200m. For that price, they should be dictating the game.”
Not only did Pochettino prove that this Chelsea side have good players, can deploy an evident game plan, can win on the road, and that those guys repping the badge are fighting for their manager, but Fernandez finally looked like a £110million midfielder.
It would be fair to say that the Argentine World Cup winner has not lived up to his price tag, but he has not been close to awful in what has been a pretty horrible Chelsea team.
He does the simple things pretty well, which is always useful, but we have very rarely seen the moments of magic a £110m signing should produce on a regular basis, nor have we seen Fernandez boss the midfield.
But he did the fundamentals, scored a world-class goal, and ran the show in the middle of the park against Aston Villa on Wednesday. It has to be said…it’s about time.
The opening goal came after a turnover from Aston Villa in the middle of the park; Fernandez recovered possession and got it moving quickly and Nicolas Jackson found Noni Madueke, who laid it off for Conor Gallagher, who emphatically scored his first goal of the season.
The first half was all about Enzo Fernandez and it was a solid outing from his equally expensive partner in crime, Moises Caicedo. The £200m midfield duo finally looked just that, and they did not fall away after the break.
In the 54th minute, Fernandez produced the sort of moment that has eluded him since moving to Chelsea last January, smashing a long-range free-kick into the top corner, past his Argentina team-mate Emi Martinez. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall when they cross paths in next month’s international break?
A stunning goal after the best 50 minutes of Enzo Fernandez for Chelsea by an absolute mile. Where’s this guy been? pic.twitter.com/WNXZDl3Fuk
— Will Ford (@willfordy25) February 7, 2024
It was a strike that would rank among the best scored by David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo and Roberto Carlos and capped off Fernandez’s best performance in England by a country mile, and then some. He went from merely doing the basics well to doing the outrageous perfectly.
His celebration paid homage to his Argentina team-mate Lionel Messi, holding up his shirt to the Chelsea fans, letting them know despite the rumours: ‘This is my club and I am here to stay’.
Merson said a Palmer masterclass was the only way Chelsea would win and if that did happen, it would simply paper over the cracks. But this win does not feel like that at all. It feels more like a turning point – a phrase I am reluctant to use, especially considering it was said after every Manchester United win in November and December last year. Oh and Palmer had a quiet evening at Villa Park.
It was not only a massive performance from Fernandez, but a superb tactical victory from Pochettino, who schooled Unai Emery at a ground he has rarely lost.
This season, Chelsea have looked clueless and harmless in possession, with no philosophy on show. You could even say there was a lack of fight and effort at times, but that was not on show whatsoever at Villa Park. Maybe it is just a cup thing, but this was the Blues’ best performance under Pochettino, which has led us to use superlatives we have yet to associate with this team.
They were slick in possession, aggressive with and without the ball, ruthless in the final third, pacey, intense, pressing effectively and as a group, and of course, displaying tactical nous, which comes from the coaching staff.
Pochettino came out fighting in a fairly bizarre manner following the Wolves defeat but there will be no more sack talk this week and a home tie against Leeds United in the next round gives them a great chance of reaching the FA Cup quarter-final, with the Carabao Cup final a few days before that clash. That will be the biggest week of Chelsea’s season but at least we can be sure Pochettino will be the man to manage them at Wembley.
Winning in the FA Cup does not improve the state of play in the Premier League, which is bloody bleak, and the Carabao Cup final still feels like it has a big role to play in Pochettino’s long-term future at Stamford Bridge, but if Wednesday’s win over the Villans can initiate an upturn of form in the league, a defeat against Jurgen Klopp’s side might not be fatal after all.
Not only did Pochettino outclass Emery thanks to his players’ execution of his fast-paced counter-attacking game plan, but we saw some great potential from a few stars who have left a lot to be desired under the former Tottenham manager.
Fernandez and Caicedo we have already touched on, but Malo Gusto deserves a mention for his superb assist to Nicolas Jackson for the Blues’ second goal against Villa. We can recognise Gusto’s individual quality, but Jackson’s showing merits a little bit more.
Signed to play through the middle and fill a void before the inevitable signing of a world-class ready-made No. 9, Jackson has been wasteful and raw for Chelsea but showed an immense amount of promise playing on the left wing against Matty Cash and Villa.
He was running the channels terrifically, exposing any space Cash vacated and proving himself to be a massive nuisance to Emery’s back four. Chipping in with a goal from that position does his case to start the next game at Crystal Palace no harm as well. Raheem Sterling and Mykhaylo Mudryk have their work cut out if Jackson can play like that against an out-of-sorts Eagles team.
The only negative for Chelsea on a very good night was losing the clean sheet right at the death. But that feels insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Pochettino has shown he can still out-tactic one of the best managers in the league, the players proved they are fighting for their manager, Fernandez performed like an £110m midfielder, Paul Merson does not have enough faith in his team, and most importantly, it does not feel like cracks have been covered, but that Chelsea can turn their season around. It’s not too late, lads.
