Chelsea four lessons learnt at Sevilla: Giroud steals the show

4. Cesar Azpilicueta’s still got it

It’s not often that a club captain has such a swift and silent fall from grace. The impressive statistics on Azpilicueta’s appearances and consistency are well known by now, but the most notable thing about those numbers at the moment is how they appear to be a thing of the past.

The rise of Reece James was fairly sudden last season, even if it was a jagged ascent to the first team. This season, however, James has seemingly claimed the right back spot as his own. Like anyone, Azpilicueta was destined to fade out of top-level football eventually, but there was nothing to suggest that it would happen so suddenly and so soon. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable to think he would be a mainstay for another five years. And yet, here we are.

Regardless of all of that, however, Azpilicueta was excellent against Sevilla. A game of such high intensity asks a lot out of fullbacks physically, tactically and mentally. Unsurprisingly, Azpilicueta showed he still has all three in spades.

As the match got increasingly testy in the second half, Azpilicueta was forced to walk a tightrope between being the calm, cool and collected leader of the team and asserting his dominance over an opponent that was willing to run through him if he couldn’t make it around him. It should come as no surprise that he trod that line perfectly.

What this means going forward is hard to say. The lazy answer would be that Azpilicueta is the defensive right back, while James is the offensive one. In reality, one defining development in the squad this season is James’ ascension into a dominant defensive force, something he presumably picked up from Azpilicueta over the last year or so. But Azpilicueta is still the more experienced and cunning of the two, and those traits will age exceptionally well (just ask Silva).

One thing that is to Azpilicueta’s benefit is that the fixture schedule is so intense that he will most certainly be needed on a semi-regular basis through the winter, meaning he could return to the top of the depth chart by the time Spring rolls around. Given the way the season has been going so far for many teams, injuries are definitely a concern as well. Azpilicueta has proven himself to be essentially injury-proof over his career (knock on wood), so he could very well find himself starting week in and week out if something were to happen to James or even Ben Chilwell.

The win and clean sheet against Sevilla served to remind everyone—Lampard included—that Azpilicueta is still one of the best in his position, and will refuse to go quietly into that cold night. James has a difficult fight on his hands to retain the starting berth, and he and Azpilicueta will both be better off because of that competition. Is the end in sight for Azpilicueta? Probably, but Wednesday’s performance pushed it a little further back towards the horizon.

What are some of the things you learned in Chelsea’s win over Sevilla? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!