Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa were signed to bring creativity and goals to Mourinho's Chelsea side and that's exactly what they provided last night. Fabregas produced two assists, his first a ridiculously composed pass through the Burnley defence to Andre Schurrle, who finished with expert precision, and the second a corner perfectly placed on the head of Branislav Ivanovic. Chelsea have lacked the ability to play defence-splitting passes since the departure of Juan Mata, so it was exciting to see the ease with which Fabregas' pass cut through the Burnley backline. It has to be taken into account that since this was Burnley's first Premier League game, they'll have been relatively inexperienced at defending against this level of opposition, so chances are it won't be quite so simple for the Spaniard when he's facing opponents more used to handling advanced attacking movement. However, Mata's departure also robbed Chelsea of a consistently strong set-piece taker, meaning that they haven't been as deadly in recent years as such a tall side should be. In that respect, Fabregas' corner to Ivanovic could be even more significant if he can provide the Blues with a means to take proper advantage of the height and strength in their side. Up front, Costa's goal may have been a simple tap-in, but having endured three and a half agonising seasons of Fernando Torres blasting such chances over the crossbar from no yards out, his composure will have come as a great relief to fans everywhere. He's already a favourite, judging by how loudly the crowd were chanting his name, and a muscular, predatory performance certainly bodes well for the season ahead. Fingers crossed.
28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.
