Photo: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
Cesc Fabregas is enjoying playing again. He’s starting games, he’s scoring goals, and he’s creating scoring chances, but the story of his new found success isn’t all good.
From being a regular starter, the Spain international was reduced to making late substitute appearances. Even players you naturally would expect to start behind him were ahead of him. But he had to endure it all, and now things seem to have taken a much better turn for him.
Nemanja Matic has been a known figure in our midfield, alongside Kante, but lately, it appears he’s fallen down the line. He started most of the games this season, and well too, but in the past two games, he has started from the bench, and that is not because he has been poor, it’s simply because Fabregas has improved too rapidly. Fabregas’ improvement over the course of the season has been too obvious to be ignored. He now plays exactly as expected by Conte, and that seems to have earned him a place in the first eleven again.
In the last 3 games, and the ones before them, he sparkled. He now goes forward more, and has been consistent with his creativity. Before now, one of his major flaws in the Conte era was that he couldn’t hold the midfield (in terms of work rate, closing down players and tackling), but he’s improved on that a lot lately.
As long as Fabregas continues to play like this and show good form, I honestly do not see him relinquishing that spot to Matic or anyone else soon. He seems to have warmed his way back into Conte’s heart, and I see that remaining so…at least for now.
