This guy is the key. Last season, we had no clue how to beat the lesser teams who sat back because our tactic of 'Give the ball to Hazard' was shut down when he was marked by 3 players. Now though, we have this puppet-master to maneuver our team past their defenses and give us the win. What a bargain for 30m. Give him half the season under Mourinho and he'll be defensively sound as well.

He is simply amazing. He added tiki-taka to our counter attacking football which was very pleasant to watch. His vision and accuracy was superb, he deserved the man of the match award.

Reminds me of when Deco came to Chelsea back in 2008, in terms of impact and addition of another style to their play; another string to their bow, so to speak.

Remember this?

Of course, back then Chelsea were getting to CL finals (and should have done so again in 2009, the season he arrived, to make it two seasons in a row, but we know how that one turned out), and thrashing the league to a thumping victory in 2010.

Is history going to repeat itself?

@Alex: Definitely deserved MOTM. Credit to Ivanovic, too. People might have not noticed it since all the focus was on Cesc but Ivanovic was also involved in all 3 goals. I find it really difficult to see him not start for us. The guy is insanely good. The problem with that though is it means either Azpi or Luis will have to sit on the bench.

@Lodatz: Yeah, Fabregas' impact with Chelsea is probably going to be very similar to Deco's. And with the addition of Costa, plus the improvements of Hazard and Oscar, I wouldn't be surprised to see teamplay like this:

That goal is one of a kind. One that involved the fluid chmesitry of Anelka, Deco, Lampard and Drogba. But who says Oscar, Fabregas, Hazard and Costa can't create a goal as good as that? If anything, we've already seen a style similar to the goal above from the Schurrle goal vs Burnley.

^ Exactly.

Now that Fabregas can play his instinctive game again, I expect some serious artwork in Chelsea's midfield, with the wealth of talent now centered around his vision of the game.

As Drogba said: "Fabregas will find it is a lot easier playing with us, than against us," as he has always had to do before.

"Fabregas will find it is a lot easier playing with us, than against us."

'Cause Arsenal are ****, right?

(take it easy, Gooners)

@Vendetta tnx for sharing video,amazzing action

it would be funny to watch fabregas help chelsea humiliate Arsenal 6-0 again

Considering the space Barça midlefielders find in EPL, they have everything to succeed and assist regularly. At Barça Cesc was not well used, the fact he was playing out of position was stupid but at the same time we couldnt bench Messi to play arround Cesc, he had never been out of form he was just not used correctly.
Thats why i told you that Cesc at 27 yo was at the peak of his career and his price was very cheap comparing to English players ( Lallana ).
Mourinho and Chelsea did some amazing signings this year, the fact Mourinho was alaways in the same league of Cesc made him do the best things for Chelsea.

Chelsea without any doubt has done the best tranfert market of Premier League. And the most amazing is that it didnt cost them a penny :).

@Lodatz History channel is somewhere else, we are in 2014 and you followed what happened lately im sure.

Fabregas explained very well in october 2013 in an interview.

Before his team defeated Real Madrid 2-1 on Saturday, FC Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fàbregas spoke to ×The Guardian about whether he would ever return to the Premier League. He also discussed how the league differs from his current spot in La Liga.

“Arsenal is in my heart and always will be,” Fàbregas told the English outlet. “I don’t know if I’ll have the opportunity to go back and play there one day, or maybe after football. It’s a club that is always going to be there and will always open its doors to me. The club’s like a family, so even if it wasn’t as a COACH, I’m sure they’d give me the chance to play a role.”

The real interesting portion of his talk centered around the differences between the Premier League and La Liga. Fàbregas said leaving for Arsenal allowed him to play more minutes, which accelerated his development as a player, and it helped that Arsenal is “perhaps the team closest to Barcelona” in style of play.

“The English league is more difficult to win, but on an individual level, it is much, much easier to shine in England,” he said. “I always thought English football was the best to watch because there are more goals, more chances, more excitement. But now, I understand why there are more goals and more chances: it’s much more crazy, out of control, everyone attacking, pouring forward.”

The Spanish international with 86 caps would not say that he found the Premier League easier to navigate than La Liga, but he did intimate that ×Spanish players are generally more technical and smarter on the ball than their counterparts in England.

“It’s a question of space,” he said. “A Spanish-style footballer, like [David] Silva or [Mesut] Özil, if they can find two seconds to think, will see the pass because there’ll be space. … In Spain, reducing space is worked on more. In England, it’s fast, but you can find that space if you are a good player.”

Too soon, everyone. he's an absolute world class no doubt. But all these noises after some no-top-challenging opponents to judge his Chelsea's performance is quite unhealthy for him and for the club.

When he was at Barca he also had some incredibly good games and some misused/wrongly used games too.

So relax...

I know I'm being overly optimistic here but I think it would be more of a shock not to think he will do good, considering his talent and years of experience in the EPL/La Liga/NT. I don't expect him to perform like this week-in-week-out, but I think it's a safe bet to say Fabregas will shine tremendously in the EPL (again).

I am just waiting for Hazard and Oscar hit the ground . They are no where near their full fitness .

I really like the way Chelsea is dealing with transfers . Just one more thing needs to be done . I will be happy to see Torres go and some young striker comes instead of him . If Rumors that Roma wants to give Destro instead of Torres are true , it will be perfect deal imo .

@Marcus

I really want to see how Costa, Oscar, Hazard, Cesc, and Matic perform when they are all hitting top-form. It's going to be an incredibly talented midfield and forward line.

^Schurrle/Willian too. Though I'm starting to favor Schurrle. That guy is really under appreciated.

I say Costa has all the help to become top scorer and make a history becoming first player in first season to win it .
I never thought Willian was a good deal . I like Schurrle style . He is very direct, gives us width and has a good goal scoring instincts .

Definitely agree on your comment about Schurrle but I hope Mourinho still gives Willian a bunch of chances to fight for his place.

If anyone is interested, here is a brilliant analysis on Schurrle's impact to the team:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24294x_analyse-that-pat-schurrle-v-burnley-a-prem-14-15-hd_sport

Damn, how far he's come. I remember him when he first broke out with Mainz and Low gave him his German debut alongside Gotze. Those two became the first players born in unified Germany to represent the national team.

+1 V I love Pat Nevin's analysis

Yeah, he is a brilliant analyst and I'm shocked to see he hasn't been signed up by a big broadcasting company like BBC or Sky Sports. If you're interested in another analysis of his that related to the Burnley match, here is one on Courtois:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x244xaz_analyse-that-pat-courtois-v-burnley-a-prem-14-15_sport

Awesome! Thanks I've bookmarked the channel too :)