Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

Cesc Fabregas made his third Premier League start of the season, and it’s one in which the Spaniard made a huge impression.

The general belief before now is that Cesc Fabregas isn’t suitable for the 3-4-3 system for his lack of work rate and defensive acumen. However, Fabregas has proven that he’s a warrior and also a world-class player who can quickly adapt to adversities.

After a poor display against Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas has been relegated to bench roles at Chelsea, but he eventually got his chance against Manchester City, and we saw two sides to the Spaniard — a player who’s so good with his passing range and at the same time poor defensive-wise. He was then dropped to the bench for the next game against West Brom — a game the team suffered to break down without the creative midfielder. Few minutes after his entry into the game, a ball from deep was all Chelsea needed to break down a stubborn Baggies defence.

Fabregas was given a chance to prove his mettle against Sunderland, and it’s one that would give Conte things to think about. Besides getting the goal with an exquisite finish, Fabregas was neat and tidy on the ball, his understanding with Diego Costa was excellent (only that Costa wasn’t prolific this time), he made the midfield tick, made a lot of forward passes, and made it easier for the team to break Sunderland’s defence that was set deep, and in comparison to the West Brom game which he didn’t start, Chelsea opened Sunderland a number of times today.

Besides his creativity on the ball, Fabregas surprisingly put in a good shift while defending; he won a number of aerial balls, won some tackles and was interested in doing some dirty jobs at the back.

Even Antonio Conte in his post-match conference acknowledged that Fabregas had a good game and played the system very well.

With a performance like this against Sunderland, no one will doubt Fabregas’ suitability to Chelsea’s 3-4-3 system again.