Chelsea went down to Brentford in the second half and struggled to offer much in response, but even in a disappointing display, there was one clear positive for the fans and Xabi Alonso.
With Chelsea's current midfield troubles, Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli's debut could be a solution to Xabi Alonso's headache. Through the opening five Premier League games, Alonso has used multiple midfield partnerships, and last night was another one with Valentin Barco and Jordan Henderson in the middle of the park.
Nicoll-Jazuli became Chelsea's youngest ever player in the Premier League at the age of 16 years and 225 days, after impressing on the Blues' pre-season tour of Australia and Asia, as well as in Cobham New Gen.
Rumours started to circulate, with multiple youngsters training with the first team in the week, building up to last night's game against Brentford, which included Nicoll-Jazuli, who got his chance to make his Premier League debut coming on for Valentin Barco after 87 minutes.
Although his debut was brief, you could see his calm temperament, and he looked comfortable on the ball, making eight out of his nine passes and having 11 touches, as well as winning all of his ground duels and aerial duels.
Currently, Nicoll-Jazuli is the tallest midfielder that Chelsea have; he stands at 6'3, with the next closest being Cole Palmer at 6'1, but the Englishman typically plays further forward than the two central players that Alonso seems to prefer in his current formation.
The current crop of fit midfielders that Alonso can pick from don't have that same stature as Nicoll-Jazuli. If you look at the previous successful Chelsea teams, they've always seemed to have a tall, imposing presence in the midfield, with players such as John Obi Mikel, Nemanja Matic, and even Frank Lampard in that list, which could be the missing piece for Chelsea to gain more control in games, which they seem to be lacking in this brief campaign.
Even if Nicoll-Jazuli only makes a handful of appearances this campaign, his playstyle and talent should put him in good stead for a run in the squad in the near future; it wouldn't surprise me or Chelsea fans if he were to get a sustained run out sooner than expected.
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