Enzo Maresca drops biggest Christopher Nkunku Chelsea hint yet with clear Aston Villa message

For just the second time in three months, Christopher Nkunku can say he was started in the position that suits him best. Although one of his very attractions is versatility, a persistence from Chelsea on playing him up front hasn't helped in a strange start to the season.

Nkunku is still the club's top scorer this term but only one of his 11 have come in the Premier League. That he has bagged in each of Chelsea's six Conference League games - including both legs of the play-off tie with Servette - is no major surprise. He is probably the best player ever to feature in the competition.

He has been, in some senses, a victim of Chelsea's success outside of that, though. Nicolas Jackson is in great form - scoring seven times from 12 Premier League starts, notching three assists along the way as his upwards trajectory continues - and is the starting striker. That was earned by an impressive first year at the club despite much public criticism.

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Cole Palmer, meanwhile, is undroppable and now occupies the spot behind Jackson in what looks to be Nkunku's best role. As the defeat to Manchester City on the opening day showed, Nkunku is not optimally utilised when stuck on the left wing.

It is not that Nkunku cannot play as a lone striker - where he has mostly started from in Europe and when used as a substitute - but he isn't a focal point like Jackson and is better at combining play from slightly deeper, linking up with a No.9 instead of being the tip of an attack. That Enzo Maresca likes his wingers to be one-on-one specialists has not helped as Palmer is less of an option there compared to how Mauricio Pochettino interpreted things.

Nkunku is not the speedy-type like Pedro Neto, Noni Madueke, or Mykhailo Mudryk. He is much more in the mould of Jadon Sancho, Joao Felix, or Palmer, operating in pockets as a link-player. So his opportunities have been reduced with two of Chelsea's standout players over the last 16 months already ahead of him, not unfairly.

Maresca is insistent that it is not an Nkunku problem either, making him hapless to an extent. After all, Nkunku rarely looks like he is trying (he probably isn't fully) in the Conference League and he still shows comfortably more quality than anyone is able to deal with. But there has been little room for him to fully show what levels he can actually get to outside of that.

However, there has been a sign that things are changing slightly. Against both Noah and Heidenheim, Maresca has used Nkunku from a No.10/shadow striker spot, playing Marc Guiu as a centre forward instead.

This might reflect more trust in Guiu than at the start of the season or maybe the ease at which Chelsea have progressed through the group phase to date. For Nkunku, though, it is a chance to show why he should be granted more Premier League minutes, specifically in his preferred position.

With Aston Villa's visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday being the first of nine in December - rising to 10 across four full weeks of football - Nkunku is going to get more game time, it is almost certain. He has so far been primarily used midweek - dedicated to Carabao Cup and Conference League matches - but from now until the New Year, there are games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays against Southampton, Fulham, and Crystal Palace, alongside two more on Thursdays in Europe.

This will represent the best and most high-profile run for Nkunku to get himself firing in the Premier League. If Maresca's selections in the past two Conference League games are anything to go by, it may well be in a position more familiar as well.