When the ship is sinking, fiddling about with the furniture is not supposed to help much. Yet here was Enzo Maresca bucking the trend, once again rearranging the few remaining forward options at his disposal and, at last, at the fourth time of asking, drawing some response.
Inspired by a repurposed Pedro Neto and level of Christopher Nkunku performance not seen in months, Chelsea hammered Southampton 4-0 to, at least temporarily, right a top-four push that had been listing badly since the turn of the year. There should perhaps be some sort of handicapping system applied to goals scored against Southampton, who have now leaked 65 in just 27 Premier League games. Still, in taking advantage, Chelsea matched their own scoring tally from the previous five matches combined.
From almost exactly midway through that run, Maresca has been dealing with a growing injury crisis in attack, sparked by losing Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu in the deadline day win over West Ham. What followed was an FA Cup exit at Brighton in which the Blues did not muster a shot on target after being pegged back to 1-1 only 12 minutes in, then a league defeat to the same team in which Noni Madueke was forced off early and Maresca’s side did not manage a shot on target at all.
Nkunku and Cole Palmer had started those games without success at centre-forward, leading Maresca to trial Neto through the middle in training in the lead up to last weekend’s meeting with Aston Villa. The Portuguese’s performance was a high point, but came with a tweak in shape, with Maresca sacrificing an attacker to bring Reece James into midfield. Having led through a goal assisted by Neto and failed to hammer home their advantage, the visitors were beaten 2-1.
So, to Tuesday night, with English football’s most accommodating backline in town and Chelsea in need of goals. Jadon Sancho came back in to join Nkunku and Neto in a fluid front-three, and Palmer slipped back into his favoured pocket at No10. From there, the Englishman delivered his most influential performance in some time, save a bizarre inability to influence the most important metric of all.
Neto, though, was the standout, scoring one, creating another and delivering an impression of centre-forward play with more depth than simply standing in the right bit of the pitch. He curved his runs into the channels, won headers he had no right to and even occasionally dropped in to link the play. Crucially, he brought some of the game-stretching chaos that was part of a less constrained wide brief in his time at Wolves, and which Chelsea’s attack has missed since Jackson went down.
“He probably gave us a threat in behind,” Maresca said. “He is not just receiving the ball on the feet, he also likes to attack in behind, something that probably Cole and Christo struggle to do.”. The jury remains out on Neto, who has been a lively addition to Chelsea’s squad without delivering the consistent output that £54million probably ought to buy. Scoring and assisting in a match for the first time for Chelsea, though, took his tally to four involvements in his last four league games and a strong run-in may yet make an outright success of his maiden campaign.
As for Nkunku, a goal and an assist of his own were also his first league contributions since Chelsea won the reverse fixture 5-1 in early December. Having been linked with a January exit, the Frenchman has cut a disinterested figure at times and it was no surprise to hear Maresca keen to keep him up to his work even after an improved display.
“I am happy with him, but I know he can give more,” Maresca added. “We expect more from him.”. Tougher defensive tests than Southampton lie ahead, though not by much: Chelsea’s next three fixtures are either against Leicester City or in the Conference League, a competition in which they average more than four goals per game this season. Neto, in particular, looks set to capitalise.