Chelsea: Enzo Maresca finds new solution for Reece James absence as system thrives | OneFootball

Moises Caicedo role offers Blues control as he plays key part in brushing Aston Villa aside

At the start of this season Aston Villa and Chelsea appeared likely top-four rivals, and the former, as incumbents, perhaps favourites at that.

Here at Stamford Bridge, though, they were leagues apart, Enzo Maresca’s upwardly-mobile team cruising past a Villa outfit that have now won just once in eight.

A 3-0 victory ensures the Blues will finish another weekend inside the Champions League places, behind Arsenal only by a quirk of alphabetic nature, and on current form, with a kind fixture list ahead, they will take some shifting.

Indeed, for those who have revelled in Chelsea’s struggles, hallmarked by wayward spending and muddled leadership, it feels very much as if the fun might be over.

As a collective, Maresca’s midfield was outstanding, Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia all starting in the same team for only the second time. The first had been here against Manchester City on the opening day of the season, but this was a different brief, the trio sent out with instructions to dominate a Villa team who, for the first time under Unai Emery, look short on intensity.

Caicedo was also tasked with covering at right-back when Chelsea were without the ball, but that was not all that often. He and Lavia patrolled at the base of what became a midfield box of four, Fernandez pushing high alongside Palmer in a more advanced role.

It was there that the pair combined to double the home lead midway through the first half, Fernandez flicking smartly around the corner and then latching onto a simple return. The finish, on the bounce and off the outside of the boot, was superb, arcing away from Emiliano Martinez’s dive.

Caicedo was the game’s best player, first to every second ball and, often, then the third and fourth ones as well. With Reece James expected to be sidelined until the New Year, and hardly bankable even when fit, Maresca may just have struck on an alternative formula to last.

Sure, there will be games - like against Arsenal here last month - where the opposition demands specialist attention, and in Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto, Maresca has two conventional full-backs enjoying fine campaigns.

But there will be others when this balance feels right, offering the control the Italian craves, as all Pep Guardiola acolytes seem to do.

Maresca has discussed his own concerns about fielding Fernandez as part of a midfield two, suggesting it lacks legs, but this system brought the best of both worlds: the security of the Caicedo-Lavia pivot and the creative threat that that pairing, for all its strengths, lacks.