Chelsea player’s stats are best in the league – which is why he can’t play tomorrow | OneFootball

A big debate about Chelsea’s team for this weekend will be over whether to include Moises Caicedo.

The midfielder has been a key player for us all season, and plays a crazy number of minutes.

He’s the fulcrum the team turns around, and if we take him out it’s hard to imagine how the whole thing functions. A major need in January was a midfielder to cover for him, at least to give him a rest. We didn’t get one.

There’s nobody in this squad who can do what he does, and especially not at his level. Mathis Amougou arrived on deadline day, but isn’t ready to be thrown in, even to an FA Cup game.

Caicedo’s impressive performances show the risk of playing him. If we lose him to an injury on Saturday, that pretty much sinks our season. There’s just nobody else in the squad who can do that job the same way, and even if the team could be tweaked to find a solution long term, we’d have dropped so many points by then that Champions League places could be slipping out of our reach.

Crazy stats show a midfielder at the peak of his game

Moises Caicedo’s impressive stats from Squawka.

The stats show just how important Caicedo is for Chelsea, but also how outstanding he is compared to the whole rest of the league as a central midfielder. Protecting him should be the priority.

He’s great on both sides of the ball – he’s played more passes into the final third than any other player in the league this season, more than the likes of Youri Tielemans or Mateo Kovacic. Yet defensively he’s a rock – he’s got more tackles and interceptions combined than any other midfielder.

If it was us, there’s no way we’d be risking him tomorrow.