Chelsea were outstanding in their 3-0 win against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon. Dominant from start to the very finish, the Blues are now third in the Premier League table as they continue to surprise people this season.
In such a resounding display, there were several standout performers for the hosts at Stamford Bridge. The likes of Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson were both outstanding in their goalscoring performances but only two of Chelsea's players have made Alan Shearer's Premier League Team of the Week.
Writing about his left-back, Shearer spoke about the display of Marc Cucurella. He wrote: "Produced a great cross to set up Nicolas Jackson's opener and contributed to a clean sheet."
Then, a bit afterwards, Shearer said this about Enzo Fernandez and his recent resurgence under Enzo Maresca: "Took his goal really well and is playing some of his best football under Enzo Maresca."
There is a lot to be said about both of their performances on the day - and their general improvement over time. With Cucurella, you have a man that was very much under huge pressure at Chelsea. Someone whose future was the subject of heavy speculation but someone that has turned his career at Stamford Bridge around.
Cucurella is now one of the Premier League's strongest left-backs and has become very much a staple under Maresca. Meanwhile, Fernandez's redemption is very much more recent. In the last few games, since the 8-0 win over FC Noah, the 23-year-old midfielder has scored or assisted in every single match.
Sunday afternoon saw Fernandez score his second in as many matches. He is getting into those dangerous positions more and more - which is exactly what Maresca wants from the Argentine midfielder.
When asked about there being more emphasis on Fernandez getting into more dangerous positions, the Chelsea head coach replied: "Exactly. For most times, he was in those positions, inside the box. We didn't contact him in the action when he scored.
"It is very difficult to score goals from outside of the box. Usually all the goals happen from inside the box, so we need the two wingers, the No.9 inside the box. We need players inside the box to try and score goals."
A few games ago, it looked as if Romeo Lavia had moved above Fernandez in the midfield pecking order but the Argentina international's recent form has made him virtually undroppable. Plenty of players are performing well for the Blues this season but the continued improvement from Cucurella and the more recent resurgence of Fernandez has been particularly impressive to see.
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