It was a run Chelsea fans had seen before.
Ben Chilwell, making a diagonal move from the wing, Thiago Silva spots him and floats a lofted pass to perfection. Chilwell's move bewilders the opposing defence, breaking their line and Chelsea score. This was the FA Cup final in May of 2021. Chelsea were then trailing to Leicester in second-half added time, even VAR replays did not aid the case the wingback had mistimed his run, but it was ruled out. Leicester would lift the Cup, Chilwell's moment of brilliance snatched away.
Over 13 months later, Chilwell did it again – this time the execution was far more impressive and there would be no reprimand from Stockley Park.
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Saturday afternoon proved an emotional and potentially transformative one for Chilwell. The 24-year-old's electric form in the autumn of 2021 was cruelly halted by an ACL injury that derailed his season. He did not return to action until the final moments of the Premier League campaign against Watford in May.
"I'm quite good with adversity," Chilwell told football.london back in July. "And while it obviously affected me because I was having a good season, I took it in my stride. I was pretty positive straight after the surgery because in my head, once that was done, I was ready to crack on with the rehab, get stronger, get fitter, become mentally stronger, and come back for pre-season flying and ready to go.
"It was tough for everyone involved with Chelsea," says Chilwell. "Reece [James] and I were loving the way we were playing, both so confident in our game. We had a little friendly competitiveness as to who could score or assist the most. The team was playing really well, and everyone was happy."
It reflected how vital Chilwell had become for Chelsea that his injury was generally cited as the moment the Blues' season began to tail off. Not only did a title challenge soon seem a distant dream, the enjoyment of watching the team soon dissipated. The movement of Chilwell and James on both wings was overwhelming for a period, then in a matter of weeks gone due to both succumbing to injury.
Chilwell not only had to deal with the blow of that moment, what an ACL could do to his career trajectory but also his World Cup hopes with England. You match that with the £62m investment on Marc Cucurella from Brighton who has taken his spot, a quick route back for Chilwell did not appear obvious.
Even Tuchel's own words following the win against West Ham, where Chilwell came off the bench, scored and assisted did not indicate full trust. "I think he has the full fitness he can have from training and pre-season matches. Of course, he can feel fitter and be fitter if he is playing in consecutive Premier League matches. In my opinion, he lacks rhythm and a bit of feeling from the game. This is what I see in training. The player always thinks he is ready, and I think there are some things still missing."
Watching how Chilwell altered the course of another game that was drifting away from Chelsea undermines that theory. Up until Chilwell's introduction, Chelsea had not only lacked creativity, they had lacked the bravery to take more risks. Chilwell's timely run dragged his team back into life.
But we should take time to appreciate this goal, it is one of the finest you are going to see technically this season. After timing his run to perfection, in full-motion Chilwell wins the header against two West Ham defenders, Vladimir Coufal and Thilo Kehrer, he then spins 180 degrees, maintaining his momentum, chasing the ball down before it goes out of the play. He not only keeps it in, his left-footed touch through the legs of Lukasz Fabianski helps it trickle into the net from a tight angle. It is a truly outstanding moment of individual invention.
But Chilwell was not done changing the course of this game for Chelsea. He then would show his creativity, keeping himself onside in the 88th minute to receive a layoff by Armando Broja to carve a low cross perfectly onto the left boot of Kai Havertz to win the game. The sort of wide rotation and overload that became a regular occurrence for Tuchel before the ACL injury.
Those two moments of inspiration mean Chilwell now has seven goals and assists in his last 12 Premier League appearances.
"The last 20 or 30 minutes were a lot of different emotions." he said to Sky Sports after the win. "I have had to be patient, bide my time and make sure I am training hard to make sure I can come in and make an impact."
Chilwell has reminded everyone how defining a presence he has been for Chelsea since his arrival from Leicester City over two years ago. Also reaffirming the effect his absence had on Tuchel's ability to form an attack that has lacked much creativity, and until his 71st-minute introduction, did not look like being resolved.
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