Chelsea destroyed Nottingham Forest and sent old Tottenham Hotspur foe Ange Postecoglou packing officially as the boos reigned down from the fans in the aftermath of the Blues torching them 3-0.
Pedro Neto and Reece James were unsurprisingly the main protagonists with a goal and an assist each, but the biggest story of the afternoon after the big Blues win was a young breakout star.
Over the summer transfer window, Bournemouth and other clubs were desperate to try and steal away 19-year-old defender Josh Acheampong, but the Blues were uninterested in even listening to loan offers for the center back and right back.
Enzo Maresca valued Acheampong highly, and against Nottingham Forest, the Chelsea manager handed the teenage star his third start of the season. And not only did Acheampong score, but he had an incredible all-around game with four interceptions without even needing to make a tackle.
Following the match, Maresca praised Acheampong highly, via Fabrizio Romano, “I really like Josh Acheampong after the confidence we gave him since last season. It’s important that he is ready when others are out, he has a great future”.
Not only does Acheampong look like a future superstar, as advertised, but the teenage right-sided center back is already going to be very important to Chelsea this season; the Forest game looks like a harbinger of things to come.
Although Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana are rounding back from injury, Chelsea just lost Benoit Badiashile for several weeks, on top of already losing Levi Colwill for months with an ACL tear.
So Acheampong may very well be the best center back on the team already without those two, and he showed that he can play at a high level, even if he’ll have tougher tests going forward than Nottingham Forest.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.