Chelsea made light work of their first venture into the Carabao Cup this year with a 5-0 win over League 2 Barrow.
The game went about as well as could be hoped as far as the attackers go, with many players being given a chance that hasn’t come around too often under Enzo Maresca.
The boss was still not fully happy with what he was seeing, being critical from the sides of the pressing from his frontmen.
Christopher Nkunku gave the manager a polite reminder of his quality with a sensational hat-trick, moving him to nine goals for the season.
Nicolas Jackson has so far kept him from starting games, with his performance against West Ham in the Premier League showing he is at the races this season too.
Michael Dawson wowed by Pedro Neto
There was also a nice moment for Pedro Neto, who scored his first goal in a Chelsea shirt early in the second half.
A lot was promised with the addition of Neto over the summer, however he has found it difficult to displace Noni Madueke up to now.
Michael Dawson was impressed with his performance tonight though, saying on Sky Sports News that he was performing to a very high standard.
He said: “Pedro Neto is a top, top player. The way he manipulates the ball, the way he can go past players, quick, skills, balls into the box.”
Neto avoiding injury so far
Fitness was always going to be a concern to some after signing Neto from Wolves, however he has so far avoided injury since his move to Stamford Bridge.
With the plethora of games coming up in multiple competitions for the Blues, there will be plenty of opportunities for the Portugal international to feature, whether that be from the start or off the bench.
However, the competition for the places in the starting side remains there, with very few players backing down from the challenge of pushing to play more regularly.
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