Chelsea flop's open goal miss brutally denies Victor Osimhen but another ex-Blues star saves day
Just a few hours on from Chelsea's 2-1 Premier League win against Leicester, two former Blues stars became a huge trending topic. Enzo Maresca, back at his former club, saw goals from Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson seal the three points at King Power Stadium though a late Jordan Ayew penalty provided a nervy finish.
A second victory in their last six league games kept the Blues in third with Brighton and Arsenal winning later in the day. Though they were unable to keep a clean sheet, Benoit Badiashile put in a solid display considering it was his first league start of the season.
Fernandez was also particularly impressive alongside Moises Caicedo with the former receiving praise from Maresca. "Enzo did really well today. He is doing very well since we started. The same as I said many times for Joao Felix, the problem is it depends on the game-plan; we use different kind of players," he admitted in a press conference.
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"Today I thought was the right game to use Enzo even if he was back from international duty [late]. I think he did very well. I'm trying to convince Enzo in the same way as I did last year with Ndidi and Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall] that attacking midfielders need to arrive in the box.
"The reason why he scored today was because he was inside the box and if he was outside of the box, he wouldn't have scored the goal. We are happy in the way Enzo is doing." The World Cup winner is one of many to be signed for big money and to accommodate his arrival, numerous players have departed.
Hakim Ziyech is just one of those with the Moroccan now plying his trade at Galatasaray. Turkiye has become quite the hotbed for ex-Premier League stars with Lucas Torreira, Dusan Tadic, Arthur Masuaku and Fred also playing in the Super Lig after stints in England.
Michy Batshuayi is another and he enjoyed a very successful Saturday afternoon for Galatasaray- while Ziyech did not. The Belgium international came off the bench to score the winning goal against Bodrumspor but it could have been far simpler.
Moments after his goal, former Chelsea transfer target Victor Osimhen was played through on goal but opted to play the ball across to Ziyech for an open goal but he amazingly skied his effort over the bar from just a few yards out.
Not only did Ziyech miss the chance to score his first goal of the season but Osimhen was also rather brutally denied a third assist of the campaign and ninth goal contribution. On Osimhen, transfer rumours surrounding the Nigeria international ahead of January are beginning to ramp up.
Chelsea have long been linked but Jackson is currently showcasing Maresca does not require another No.9 which could leave the door open for other European clubs.