Chelsea‘s 2-0 victory against Everton on Saturday marked the end of an unexpected and unwanted four-game winless streak, and was fuelled by a superb individual performance from Malo Gusto.
The Blues were on cloud nine when they thrashed Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League in late November, only to draw against Arsenal and Bournemouth in the Premier League, either side of a 3-1 loss away at Leeds, while they also gave up the lead to lose 2-1 away against Atalanta in the Champions League.
But Enzo Maresca’s men got back on track with a mostly commanding showing against Everton.
Gusto was the provider as Chelsea took the lead in the 21st minute, taking up a central position and sliding a perfect pass through to Cole Palmer, who made no mistake to beat Jordan Pickford for his first goal since mid-September.
The Frenchman then got on the scoresheet himself just before half-time, breaking into the Everton box to connect with an Enzo Fernandez cutback, ensuring Chelsea’s job was to merely ride out any pressure thrown at them from David Moyes’ men after the break.
In 45 minutes, Gusto managed to double his Premier League goals and assists tallies for the season, but he was critical to Chelsea’s efforts on Saturday throughout the match, on both sides of the ball.
Gusto never stopped probing for weaknesses in the Everton backline, playing 12 passes into the final third, completing 60 of his 67 passes overall and creating two chances — also completing four of six attempted long passes.
And the right-back was tireless at the back, making four clearances, four recoveries and an interception, while winning two of his three duels and being dribbled past just once.
Gusto interchanged brilliantly with positional counterpart Reece James between the right-back and central midfield positions, and ultimately, Everton had no idea how to deal with it.
“They are good players, and when they are good players, they can play in every position. They can play full-back and midfielder,” Enzo Maresca said of the Gusto/James dynamic. “[Malo Gusto] took the chance and his assist for Cole, so I am very happy for Malo.”
Malo Gusto: Chelsea’s unsung hero
Gusto’s performance at Stamford Bridge on Saturday had all the hallmarks of a Man of the Match performance, but it’s not like this is a one-off. Rather, it was just a case of an unsung Chelsea hero finally getting some of the credit he deserves.
The 22-year-old is rated at 68% according to our Squawka Score, with only six full-backs throughout the entire Premier League scoring higher — one of which is teammate Marc Cucurella (72%), who mans the opposite flank.
Gusto is first among Chelsea players for possessions won in the defensive third (29) and figures in the top three for tackles (25), possessions won in the attacking third (5) and through-balls (5).
He also ranks in the 80-95th percentile of Premier League full-backs for ground duel success (60.61%), final third passes completed (4.24), interceptions (1.52) and shots on target (0.4) per 90 minutes.
Chelsea ‘blessed’ to have ‘wonderful’ Malo Gusto
Former Liverpool and England midfielder Danny Murphy poured praise on Gousto on Saturday evening’s edition of Match of the Day.
“There have been a few hiccups, but that’s a big result, and the star of the show was probably not someone we would have predicted in Malo Gusto,” he said.
“What an amazing performance. We’ve seen him play in midfield occasionally, but he made some wonderful passes today, obviously setting up Cole Palmer for his goal.
“We’ve talked about Reece James many times and how wonderful he is with his passing range and technical ability, but Malo Gusto has a lot of that too.
“They are blessed to have two players who can both play right back and midfield at the same time. He’s got an incredible array of passes in his locker.
“When he is in his more orthodox position at right back, he’s willing to get forward with the ball, travel with the ball and get into dangerous areas. He does that every time Chelsea play.
“It might be a bit of a problem for the manager because both can play in that position, but it’s a great option to have because defensively he is really good.”
Ultimately, this is just an instance of Gusto getting the praise he deserves, but it’s time he was noticed more often for the role he plays in this Chelsea side.