By Nathaniel Kay

126 passes, 147 touches: £45m Chelsea ace impressed on national duty last night

Ben Chilwell was flying yesterday as the Chelsea star shone during England’s 5-0 win over San Marino.

Chilwell started and finished the Three Lions opening fixture of their World Cup qualifying campaign last night.

The Blues £45m (BBC Sport) summer signing was in sizzling form down England’s left-hand channel.

He was directly involved in the opening goal, picking out James Ward-Prowse with a smart pull-back.

WhoScored.com had him down for making 126 passes, the most of any player on the Wembley pitch, with an accuracy of 93.7%.

Add to that his five key passes and five attempted crosses, it was an altogether productive evening for the 24-year-old.

This was his 11^th cap under Gareth Southgate and only the third since November 2019.

It was the first call-up Chilwell had received whilst playing for Thomas Tuchel at club level, despite most of his best work arriving during Frank Lampard’s tenure.

Chelsea’s left-back will be aiming to lock-down that side of England’s defence ahead of this summer’s European Championships.

His main competitor will be Manchester United’s Luke Shaw.

If they can both remain fit, then Southgate has a decent set of options heading into the major tournament.

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Nathaniel Kay

Nathaniel is a football journalist who graduated from the University of Derby. He has worked at Burton Albion as part of their media team for two years. Nathaniel produces regular articles for the club’s official website and match-day programme. He covered the 2018 U20 Women’s World Cup in Brittany and has reported from grounds ranging from non-league up to the Premier League.