High-flying Chelsea continued their impressive start to life under new boss Enzo Maresca by seeing off a spirited Gent side in Conference League action on Thursday evening, with the much-changed hosts running out 4-2 winners at Stamford Bridge.
Fresh from having seen off Brighton and Hove Albion by the same scoreline on Saturday afternoon, the west Londoners showcased the depth of their firepower to deliver once again last night, despite the absence of the likes of Nicolas Jackson, Jadon Sancho and, of course, Cole Palmer.
Leaving the Englishman out of the squad for the first stage of this competition may have been a bold call, although Maresca appears to have more than enough quality at his disposal to make up for it, with both Pedro Neto and Christopher Nkunku notably getting on the scoresheet – the latter man now boasting seven goals in total so far this season.
The night also saw Renato Veiga and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall register their first goals for the club against the Belgian visitors, with the pair no doubt making a strong statement amid the desire to force their way into the manager’s Premier League XI.
Chelsea's best performers vs Gent
The man who kicked things off with a well-taken header at the back post, summer signing Veiga made his presence felt in that inverted left-back berth, notably racking up four key passes, while also completing 100% of his attempted dribbles, as per Sofascore.
The 21-year-old has been restricted to just one top-flight start so far this season, although on the evidence of his most recent performance, he could well represent a firm threat to Marc Cucurella on the left flank moving forward.
Enzo Fernandez is another who may also soon be fearing for his place in the midfield ranks, if Dewsbury-Hall’s form is anything to go by, with the £30m addition from Leicester City having been masterful in the centre of the park.
Not only did he react quickly to slot home late on, but the playmaker was also integral to everything that was good about the hosts, successfully completing all three of his dribble attempts and winning six of his eight ground duels.
The same cannot be said of the man next to him, however, with midfield colleague Cesare Casadei failing his big audition on what was a sticky outing for the promising Italian.
Casadei's game in numbers vs Gent
The 21-year-old – who played alongside Dewsbury-Hall during a loan spell at Leicester in the first half of last season – had looked set to depart Stamford Bridge over the summer, albeit with the youngster revealing that he opted against sealing another temporary exit, following discussions with his manager.
While the presence of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia has ensured that game time in the league will be hard to come by, cup competitions will no doubt provide the former Inter Milan ace some much-needed minutes, having notably started in the 5-0 thrashing of League Two side Barrow last week.
90 minutes
78 touches
87% pass accuracy
0 key passes
1/4 dribbles
2/10 ground duels
5/6 aerial duels
14x possession lost
3 interceptions
1 tackle
Up against tougher opposition this time around, the one-time Reading loanee didn’t exactly pass the test with flying colours, even despite recording an impressive 97% pass accuracy, while also enjoying 100 touches of the ball.
That involvement did only amount to one key pass, while the rising star also won just a solitary duel on the day, with the Standard’s Dom Smith writing that it was an ‘an evening to forget’ for Casadei, whom he awarded a 5/10 match rating too. In truth, he needed to show more.
The Italy youth international would have been hoping to properly make his mark in order to try and push his way into Maresca’s ‘A’ team, yet he simply appears to be no closer to realising his undoubted potential in a Chelsea shirt.
There remains a long way to go in the season, of course, yet while the likes of Veiga and Dewsbury-Hall appear to be closing the gap on their competitors in the squad, Casadei remains at risk of being left behind.
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