-
News
- 2 hours ago
Chelsea 2-0 Burnley: Insane stat shows result is a game-changer for Maresca
Tom Weber
- 22 Nov 2025 16:13 GMT
- 4 min read
Analysis
In a first under Enzo Maresca, Chelsea comfortably defeated Burnley without star midfielder Moises Caicedo on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues travelled to Turf Moor for what could have been a tricky fixture for Maresca's inconsistent side. Chelsea have dropped points against the likes of Sunderland and Brentford this season, so Burnley will have backed themselves to get something from this game.
However, in the end, it turned out to be a mostly comfortable win for the Stamford Bridge outfit. Goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez sealed a victory that was hardly under threat, although Burnley could perhaps have a shout for a penalty when the score was still 1-0.
Current ETV
Moisés Caicedo
DM, M (C)
Chelsea
Moisés Caicedo
DM, M (C)
Chelsea
ETV Range
€102.7M - €125.6M
The manner in which Chelsea went about their business was impressive, especially considering that Caicedo spent the entire game on the bench. The Ecuador international has been the linchpin of their midfield, and there have been concerns that the Blues are too reliant on him.
In fact, prior to today, Maresca had never dared to omit Caicedo from a Premier League fixture. He started all 38 games last season and all but one this term. The one time he was a substitute was against Nottingham Forest, where Chelsea struggled before he came on.
Andrey Santos has officially arrived at Chelsea
Such was Chelsea's control against Burnley that Maresca did not deem it necessary to bring on Caicedo. Burnley are 19th in the table, so one should be wary of reading too much into this, but it is worth noting that this result may be a game-changer going forward.
Andrey Santos played in Caicedo's stead and did a stellar job, despite having been converted into more of an attack-minded box-to-box midfielder across his two loan spells at sister club Strasbourg.
This was easily Santos' best performance in a Chelsea kit and will serve as proof to Maresca that he has a more than adequate backup for Caicedo. The latter no longer needs to be the Blues' iron man in the Premier League.
Because of how rare an occasion this was, Maresca joked after the game that he won't omit Caicedo again before praising Santos for his performance: "I won't do it anymore, trust me!
"Andrey's position is the position he played today. Usually, with us, he goes higher up because we have Moi, but we needed to find a solution. He was very good."
Santos has officially arrived at Chelsea and can take some of the burden off Caicedo's shoulders. This can only be a good thing for Chelsea in the long run.
Football transfer news headlines today
Man Utd Transfer News Today: Amorim gets wonderkid update as €30m deal confirmed
Vini Jr agrees new Real Madrid contract: Deal ‘already closed’
Jose Mourinho fumes at ‘nine betrayers’ in stunning Benfica rant
'Special player': The €100m Premier League transfer Guardiola is DESPERATE for Man City to make
The FootballTransfers app
Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.
The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:
