Chelsea moved ahead of Manchester City in the Premier League following their 2-0 win away from home against Burnley to kick off the return of domestic football.
Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez scored late in both halves to secure all three points for the Blues, while City fell to defeat against Newcastle.
Chelsea survived a contentious penalty call which could have seen them fall behind, however made the most of their good fortune to turn in a brilliant display, despite the absence of key players such as Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo.
Who was your player of the match vs Burnley? Estevao Willian and Joao Pedro rave about Andrey Santos after Chelsea vs Burnley
Andrey Santos performed well in our player ratings for the game, and picked up the official Player of the Match award from the broadcasters.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
The Brazilian was clearly delighted after the game to have played a full 90 minutes for the first time in his Chelsea career, and impressed a number of his teammates with his display.
This included international colleagues Estevao Willian and Joao Pedro, with them both taking to Instagram to praise his performance.
Neto described Santos as ‘unbelievable’ after the game, with him stepping up to show that he can be a more than useful option in midfield for Enzo Maresca.
Pedro Neto on Andrey Santos:
“Andrey Santos was unbelievable, we need this type of performance when there are lots of battles. It’s always good to come back from the break with a win, we are looking forward to the big games.”
Pedro Neto
Andrey Santos stats vs Burnley
With Chelsea missing Caicedo’s defensive contributions, they will have been delighted with how the Brazil international stepped up in this regard.
Santos formed a strong partnership with Fernandez in the middle of the park, and with another injury issue for Romeo Lavia there is a real chance for him to prove himself in some big games coming up.
Lavia is set to be out for around another month, which will see him miss crucial games against Barcelona and Arsenal in the next week.
It is likely that Caicedo is recalled for those fixtures, however the boss will have no issues utilising Santos if required following his excellent display against Burnley.