Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez scored his sixth goal of the season in spectacular fashion last night against Aston Villa.
In fact, ESPN pundit Steve Nicol suggested the “sensational” set-piece goal could help spark some better form.
The 23-year-old midfielder netted Chelsea’s third goal in a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa during yesterday’s FA Cup fourth round replay.
His £106.8m transfer fee (Sky Sports) naturally brings its own kind of pressure, something he’s not always dealt with the best during a first year in English football.
However, Enzo Fernandez gave a timely reminder of just how good he can be by bossing proceedings in the Villa result.
Nicol was stunned by the quality of Fernandez’s goal in Chelsea’s midweek victory.
“He did all the things we thought he was going to do when he put a Chelsea jersey on…” Nicol told ESPN.
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“Maybe that free-kick, sensational free-kick, top corner, picture perfect, maybe that’s the thing in this game that kicks him into gear.
“If you’ve got one of your main players at top form, then it spreads to everybody else.”
Enzo Fernandez goal
We certainly don’t mind Fernandez taking on more shots from distance for Chelsea.
Without a prolific No 9 leading the line, it’s vital there’s goals from all areas of the pitch.
The Argentine midfielder is now up to six goals across all competitions this campaign, so if he can get that figure up to double digits by the end of May it’s a great return.
There’s certainly been an issue with Chelsea’s expensively assembled midfield in the last few months, but the solution of playing Fernandez and Moises Caicedo close together as a double pivot makes the most sense to us.
The Blues have just three games left until the Carabao Cup final with Liverpool on 25 February.
We hope the Caicedo-Fernandez combination is operating at full flow by that date because the signs against Villa is that it can be very effective.
