So, obviously that was a fantastic win, with what is seeming like fantastic progress with respect to the lineups. And given our midfield got another two assists, I’d like to shine a light here a bit.
Currently we have five players who make up our midfield trio:
- Barkley, Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic
Last year’s Napoli side for Sarri had essentially five players as well:
- Hamsik, Allan, Jorginho, Diawara, Zielinksi
So far this season, in league play, Chelsea’s midfield contribution looks like this:
8,882 minutes: 13 Goals + 13 Assists = 0.263 G+A/90
Here’s how Napoli finished league play last year:
10,222 minutes: 18 Goals + 13 Assists = 0.273 G+A/90
Who would have thought that right now we are practically on par in terms of midfield goal/assist results as the Napoli side that pushed Juve to the brink last year? The midfield that we’ve been so frustrated with all year? That’s what Barkley and more so Ruben Loftus-Cheek are now giving us. That extra dimension.
Details in the table below for those curious, stats from whoscored.com:
