But on Tuesday night the 29 year old struck two goals in extra time to underline his class and help turn a 2-0 deficit into a remarkable 4-2 EFL Cup 3rd round win for the Blues at Leicester.
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Having opened his Arsenal account with a 35-yard thunderbolt in the Premier League win over Hull at the weekend, the summer signing made a decision to try his luck again, and while this strike was nowhere near as powerful, it still found its way in, via a deflection and iffy keeping from Vladimir Stojkovic.
“In extra time I said stay together and close the space, but Fabregas scored and it was very hard for us”. I don’t care what their name is. “For me it’s important when I call someone to play and they show me my choice is not wrong”, he said via ESPN. There are three days before the game and they have the opportunity to convince me to put them in.
“Cesc is an intelligent player, a clever player and he sees the game, he feels the situation”, the Chelsea boss said.
“I want to show that if someone deserves it, he plays”, Conte said. Bournemouth were the other top-flight casualties as second-tier Preston won 3-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Denmark striker Simon Makienok.
“But when you’ve got someone like Kante who can do the work of two men, you don’t need Kante and Matic at home when you are Chelsea who are going for the Premier League”.
Four minutes after the restart Cesar Azpilicueta thumped home a sumptuous volley and in the blink of an eye Chelsea were level.
Chelsea did take great advantage of the same as Fabregas smashed two goals inside the opening four minutes of the extra-time to knock Leicester out of the competition and guide his side to the fourth round.
Record eight-time winners Liverpool eased past Derby County 3-0 with goals from Ragnar Klavan, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi, while Arsenal enjoyed a 4-0 stroll at Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was not keen to re-sign him, yet it was still a surprise he chose to switch to the Blues.
“It was a motivated team against us and we had a complete performance”. It’s a very special place for me and that’s it.
Granit Xhaka rifled in the opener from distance and Lucas Perez scored a penalty and a fine individual goal.
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“I think the key was when we conceded a goal on the last corner of the half, we lost two risky men, Luiz and Cahill”.
