Fabregas still looks one of the best creators in world football (Pictures: Getty)

Cesc Fabregas looked to have done all he could at the end of Chelsea’s win over Swansea City at the weekend, but was quickly sent crashing back down to earth by Antonio Conte.

With a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win, the Blues’ undisputed man-of-the-match certainly made the most of a rare start – just his sixth of the season in the Premier League – before Conte all but confirmed that rare is how they’d be staying.

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‘Cesc played a really good game,’ Conte said afterwards. ‘But it’s important for me to have these solutions and also to analyse the games, game by game, to understand when we need to have a player with more quality (on the ball), and to lose something in height (and physique).’



While the Italian will rightly feel he has no need to alter his tactics based on how his side have played so far – they enjoy a ten-point lead at the top of the Premier League table at the time of writing – there simply has to be more room for a world class playmaker whose supreme impact and influence is clear every time he is given even a sniff of action.


Put it this way – if Conte won’t use Fabregas, there are plenty of Premier League clubs who would happily do so, and that’s clear from stats that show him out-performing big names like Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, or his supposed Arsenal heir Mesut Ozil.

Fabregas has done a great deal with limited playing time (Picture: Squawka)

Despite playing just 659 minutes in the league this season – a fraction of the others above who play a similar role for their club – the Spain international has at least three more assists than any of his rivals above, except Liverpool’s Adam Lallana, with whom he is level on 7.

His pass completion is as impressive as ever, though slightly below his rivals – but given the context of his limited playing time, his impressive numbers are better illustrated through his ‘per 90’ metrics.

Fabregas can’t do a great deal more to earn Conte’s trust (Picture: Squawka)

At the moment, Fabregas is averaging three key passes per game – considerably up on Pogba and Lallana in particular, and is generally scoring, assisting and creating chances at a far more frequent rate.

With attack-minded wing-backs like Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso joining the front three of Eden Hazard, Pedro and Diego Costa, it is understandable that Conte wants to keep his central midfield more defensively minded, but that seems overly cautious the gulf in quality between Chelsea and much of the rest of the division.

There’s even an argument for using Fabregas in the big games as well, as Chelsea seemed to lack some spark in defeats to Liverpool and Tottenham this season, with the axis of Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante simply not creative enough to break down defences of a higher quality.

Fabregas hasn’t been a regular under Conte (Picture: Getty)

Conte notably found a way to use an ageing Andrea Pirlo to good effect in his Juventus sides, despite the veteran ball-player not at his peak in terms of offering energy and work rate in that area of the pitch, so it’s surprising that he can’t find a similar way of fitting in Fabregas more often than he has.

Prem assists 2016/17 (starts) 10 – Christian Eriksen (25)

9 – Kevin De Bruyne (22), Gylfi Sigurdsson (25)

8 – Alexis Sanchez (24), Matt Philipps (24)

7 – Cesc Fabregas (6), Adam Lallana (22)

Ultimately, the 29-year-old came to Conte’s rescue at the weekend after Swansea’s equaliser at Stamford Bridge; on seven occasions this season Chelsea have just won by the odd goal – against the likes of West Ham, Watford, Middlesbrough, West Brom, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, with Fabregas starting only one of those; this is a likely result of prioritising the protection of the defence in midfield rather than support to the attack. On occasions when it doesn’t work, like against Swansea on Saturday, the presence of Fabregas to come up with a potentially match-winning pass or assist could prove vital between now and the end of the season.

Fabregas would surely get into most top teams in Europe (Picture: Getty)

Fabregas career honours Arsenal

FA Cup – 2004/05

Community Shield – 2004 Barcelona

La Liga – 2012/13

Copa del Rey – 2011/12

Supercopa de Espana – 2011, 2013

Uefa Super Cup – 2011

Club World Cup – 2011 Chelsea

Premier League – 2014/15

League Cup – 2014/15 Spain

World Cup – 2010

European Championships – 2008, 2012

As the stats show, there are fewer in the Premier League who make such a decisive impact from that position – even players who cost £89million. And this is nothing new – the former Arsenal captain has made a career of this, with his creativity helping keep the Gunners afloat for many years before yielding greater prizes for Barcelona, Chelsea and Spain.



If Chelsea can’t give Fabregas the games he deserves, one of their top four rivals would undoubtedly be strengthened if they decided to take him off the Blues’ hands.

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