It was always going to be this way. After growing pressure from fans and the media to start Estevao Willian in a Premier League game, Enzo Maresca finally did it yesterday.
Estevao switched out for hard running Garnacho
Estevao fires in. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
After scoring in midweek against Barcelona, Estevao was given a start against the Gunners. But a first half red card for Moises Caicedo changed the game, and after half time we didn’t see the Brazilian again.
“Estevao Willian was removed at half-time to make way for Alejandro Garnacho and it suggested that Maresca does not yet entirely trust the 18-year-old Brazilian to do his defensive duties,” was how Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail put it, and we agree with that view on things.
“With Chelsea a man shy, they would have to dig in for large sections of the second half and not shirk the work. Maresca brought on Garnacho for Estevao instead, and the £40million summer signing was fairly tireless down the left-hand side.”
It’s not a question of Estevao being lazy or careless, just that Garnacho is particularly hard working and more experienced than the teenager. Down to ten men, you need everyone running that much more and being that much sharper in terms of the shape, and Garnacho is better at that than the Brazil star.
It worked perfectly.
In other news…
Chelsea’s red card in this game shown to Moises Caicedo was their 6th of the season, which is just crazy given it came before the end of November. This is going to continue being a talking point for Enzo Maresca until we can recover our record a little.
Reece James was actually disappointed by the draw, and thought his team actually deserved to win despite being down to ten men for 60 minutes. That’s a sign of how ambitions and expectations are changing at Chelsea.
