When the chips were down, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea stuck their chest out and produced a performance of a lifetime against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.
After suffering back-to-back defeats, where the London club had conceded eight goals, including losing 4-2 to Wolves at the weekend.
The performance from Chelsea at Villa Park on Wednesday night for their FA Cup replay was a different team altogether.
One of the stars of the show for Chelsea was midfielder Enzo Fernandez and he was lauded on Instagram for his performance by Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke.
The 23-year-old scored a stunning free-kick to make it 3-0 for his side, as he managed to beat his Argentina teammate, Emiliano Martinez, in between the sticks.
What was also interesting was Enzo Fernandez’s celebration, after speculation about his future, he put all of that to bed by taking his shirt off, showing it off to the Chelsea fans and signalling to all that he is staying.
Nonetheless, after the game, Enzo Fernandez wrote on IG ‘This is Chelsea’ and ‘we are all together’.
Christopher Nkunku, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson praise Enzo Fernandez
‘Monster,’ wrote Madueke to Fernandez, whilst Nkunku added ‘big’ and Nicolas Jackson stated ‘Brother, what a goal’.
Chelsea progress in the FA Cup
One thing is for sure, this takes the pressure off Pochettino because, at the weekend, that was Chelsea at their worst.
There were calls by some for Jose Mourinho to come in, with many simply just not having Pochettino as their manager.
But with the League Cup final against Liverpool around the corner, and now staying in the FA Cup, this helps everyone at Stamford Bridge a lot and papers over the cracks at the fact that the team are sitting 11th in the Premier League.
One thing is for sure, Chelsea haven’t turned a corner because that’s the mistake that is usually made here.
This is just another win, another confidence booster and hope that the team, for once in the season, can actually go on a consistent run.
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