Chelsea have employed more than 30 players in the English Premier League (EPL) since the start of the 2022/23 season. However, only one of them made over a thousand assists in the EPL on the 27th. Who is this footballer?
The first Blues player to complete more than 1,000 assists in the English top flight this season is Thiago Silva. The 38-year-old, the oldest on the team (and the entire EPL), has completed a total of 1,460 passes since the season. This is 479 more passes than Kalidou Koulibaly's 981 in the same time period. Silva's most assists to date came in a Round 18 clash with Nottingham Forest. One hundred and eighteen of his 127 attempts in the game were successful. The second game in which he made over 100 assists was against Crystal Palace on October 1, 2022. Interestingly, both of these matches were away from home. The Brazilian's smallest passing attempt came on the 25th when he played just 18 minutes in the London derby against Tottenham. The former Copa America champion completed 11 of his 12 assists in the game. Meanwhile, he was 64 years old when the two teams met earlier in the season. A close look at his record during this period shows that three of the four clubs where he's provided the most assists are based in London. These are Crystal Palace (116), West Ham (99) and Fulham (98). He also has 333 assists in the Champions League. That gives him a total of 1,793 for the club in just 21 games this season.
It should be noted that the centre-back joined the London club as a free agent in August 2020. That was after eight years at Paris Saint-Germain. By the way, he has provided two assists this season.
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Owen Hargreaves has praised Chelsea's versatile striker Kai Havertz and his performances in the team's last two wins.
There have been some standout performances at Chelsea in the last two games, including Marc Cucurella, Ben Chilwell and Enzo Fernandez, but up front, Havertz is clearly the one with the biggest impact.
The 23-year-old ended a seven-match drought midweek and was again on the scoresheet on Saturday in a 3-1 win over Leicester City.
It can be said that Hargreaves has been impressed with Havertz's recent form.
Leicester City v Chelsea FC - Premier League
Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images
“They turned it around a little bit. Scoring is a big deal for them,” the former England international told Premier League Productions (via Optus Sport).
“Three goals [against Leicester]… Kai Havertz was again player of the day [on Saturday] and he [also] was player of the week midweek against Borussia Dortmund.
"I know he [Graham Potter] doesn't have a striker, but Havertz did a great job as a substitute."
While on paper, Havertz played at number nine in both games, he actually played deeper - and that could be the key to his change.
Instad, Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk, who had the pace to exploit space behind defenders, led Chelsea against Dortmund and Leicester respectively.
The change in formation, from defense to defence, made this possible. Instead of relying on wingers, Chelsea have full-backs to create width and allow Havertz and Joao Felix to function as number 10s behind Sterling and Mudryk.
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