Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is doing what he has done throughout his career: scoring goals. Three in five now for Chelsea and more important than the strikes themselves has maybe been the manor of the finishes.
Whereas the Blues have become accustomed to flexible front-lines over the past 18 months, especially after the Romelu Lukaku experiment didn't work, there was a feeling that it didn't matter who they had, goals wouldn't come.
It was a creativity issue, it was a formation issue, it was a Lukaku problem, blame Mason Mount and Kai Havertz, maybe it really is the No.9 shirt, Timo Werner has gone, was it all his fault after all?. Nobody could work out how to get Chelsea scoring any types of goal. A Jorginho penalty often saved them, but that's not sustainable.
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For that reason it was understandable to be perplexed by the signing of 33-year-old Aubameyang. Even more so when Thomas Tuchel was sacked days after his debut. How would Aubameyang work if the others couldn't?
Graham Potter's solution has so far been teamwide. The risks taken across the field have seen an increase in attacking expression, movement and general creativity. It's hard to imagine Reece James even playing the ball for Mount that saw him win the penalty against AC Milan if it was played a couple of weeks ago.
However, as shown by the instinctive strike against Crystal Palace, perhaps more important is the player on the end of chances. James has crossed balls into dangerous areas for 18 months, nobody has been there to score. Aubameyang is a predator though, and his success so far has been a big part of the early positivity for Potter.
Far from downing tools now that there's no Tuchel, Aubameyang has grown in sharpness, coming short for the ball and darting in behind. His finishing has been brilliant and he is in the right spaces for Chelsea so far. His goal in the home match against was his first in the Champions League for nearly five years and you can see what it meant to him.
In a comparable situation last year Chelsea had just signed Lukaku. His start was rapid too, four goals in five games, including a European winner at Stamford Bridge, finally the saviour hath cometh everyone thought. One year on and the Belgian scored just 11 more goals last season, he only scored in nine more games in all competitions.
Having played just four group stage games, Aubameyang has already equalled Lukaku's European record from last term. It's two in two under Potter in the competition as well. The issue is that after scoring the winner in his first match of the group stage last season, Lukaku would only start one more match in the tournament and he didn't score in the three sub appearances he made, missing a crucial header against Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge.
When Chelsea most needed their £97m striker he wasn't there. The system was disjointed, when Chelsea went direct he wasn't there or didn't get the header, when they went short he wasn't in control and when runs were made a blind eye was turned. It couldn't have looked worse.
Aubameyang has already become the new man that is trusted. His goals are vital to keep Armando Broja sidelined and there's competition coming from Kai Havertz, too.
Nobody knows what Potter and Aubameyang will do next, but the level of understanding the Gabon forward with his new teammates already appears to outweigh that of his predecessor. His early record is on a par with Lukaku and the hope is that with the new regime, Aubameyang will go on to far outscore the Belgian.
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