Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson were paired in midfield for the first time as Chelsea produced their most complete performance of the season. In a 5-1 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, manager Xabi Alonso finally found the control and stability required behind his free-scoring attacking trio of Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers. The Blues have had no problems scoring goals this campaign, with 15 goals from six matches, but no team has conceded more than their total of 13.
Against the Cherries though, Caicedo and Henderson provided the balance to suggest Alonso could finally have found an answer - despite still having to wait for their first clean sheet of the league campaign. Henderson stole the show by scoring his first two goals for the club. He opened the scoring with a curling effort after 66 seconds before adding a 25-yard free-kick to complete the victory.
Having also set up Rogers for the second goal after just two minutes and 30 seconds, the 36-year-old became the third-oldest player to score and provide an assist in the same match for Chelsea, behind only Didier Drogba and Gianfranco Zola. Henderson's performance came after a shift in Chelsea's summer recruitment strategy. He arrived on a free transfer from Brentford to add experience to what had been the Premier League's youngest squad.
Alonso said: "We signed him for everything. If he's able to score two beauties like today, we are more than happy for him. "But apart from the goals, he's done many, many good things.
I think today was a very complete performance. We were in control for most of the game, so I'm happy with that. We had good stability in defence as well." Having not signed a player aged over 30 since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2022, Chelsea recruited three this summer, with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez joining from Aston Villa and striker Danny Welbeck also arriving.
Now, recovered from a broken arm sustained while jumping over an advertising hoarding during celebrations following England's win over Mexico at the World Cup, Henderson is showing he is more than just a vocal leader behind the scenes. There is a strong argument that Chelsea find it easier to cope without the creativity of Cole Palmer than without Caicedo's ability in possession and his knack for breaking up play in midfield. In his 150th appearance for the club, Caicedo lasted 72 minutes.
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