Chelsea: Jorginho, Kovacic resembling the greats, and other lessons learned

Narrow wins like Saturday’s at Watford usually have the most to say about a team. Here are four things worth learning about Chelsea after the weekend.

We can learn things at a much more leisurely pace than the Blues. Frank Lampard only had a day or two for his Chelsea players to digest the win against Watford before turning their fully attention towards Ajax.

1. Jorginho is Cesc Fabregas 2.0

There’s no point in burying the lede. Jorginho’s pass for Tammy Abraham’s goal may very well go down as the assist of the season. More than that, it rivals any of Cesc Fabregas’ assists during his time at Chelsea.

Ironically, what I would consider to be Fabregas’ best came against Watford as well, back in the 2016/17 season. It was a similar pass to Jorginho’s, though it was from deep in Chelsea’s defensive third instead of right near midfield. Both were the type of driven, curving balls that split a gap that doesn’t seem to exist until, out of nowhere, Tammy Abraham or Diego Costa is clear through on goal. Extra points to Jorginho for hitting the pass first time, too.

Beyond that pass, though, Jorginho is offering more in defense than Fabregas ever did for Chelsea. He registered two tackles, three interceptions and a clearance on Saturday as part of a dominant midfield performance alongside Mateo Kovacic.

You’d be excused for thinking Jorginho was a bit of a training cone as a defender after last season and the first few weeks of this season, but there’s no arguing that his intelligence in reading the game, along with having the requisite physical attributes, allows Jorginho to survive as a true defensive midfielder.

His performance against Watford highlighted his skills going forward, but he deserves recognition for doing the dirty work, which is something that was often beyond Cesc Fabregas in his Chelsea years. And he most certainly did not concede a penalty, no matter what Mike Dean says.

Unfortunately, he’ll miss the match against Crystal Palace after picking up his fifth yellow card for time wasting, but that (shoot)housery is just another way in which he’s really starting to resemble Fabregas.

Hopefully we won’t see him ping a ball into a crowd of opponents during a stoppage in play anytime soon though.