Why this is Chelsea's most likeable team since Champions League winners
Hearing the post-match anecdotes from Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson about their conversation as they stood over the free-kick against Bournemouth that ended up being planted into the top corner, a question entered my mind. Is this the most likeable Chelsea team since BlueCo bought the club in May 2022?
The answer is a rather resounding yes, and it is not even close. To assess the shrewdness of Chelsea's recruitment over those four-and-a-bit years would be to arrive at a rating no higher than a four out of 10, but Todd Boehly, £1billion wasted on his watch,sold his shares and left the club last month.
The former interim sporting director, who insisted Chelsea were missing a trick not lining up in a "4-4-3", is gone. His exit has coincided with what feels like a turning point at the club - the end of Chelsea's 'banter era' of spectacularly failed transfers.
Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and, if Aston Villa's conditional obligations come in, Alejandro Garnacho are all out the door. So is Robert Sanchez, a goalkeeper who divided the fanbase on the subject of whether he was actually any good, as well as Enzo Fernandez, a big-game player but, in the eyes of many neutrals, the epitome of a Chelsea pantomime villain.
Now to where Chelsea's evolution has brought them - a place where signing players over the age of 25 is considered crucial rather than taboo. The first signing to break the mould was Danny Welbeck, brought in as competition for his former Brighton team-mate Joao Pedro.
Welbeck is 35 now but still a capable striker, a quiet but respected presence in the dressing room and the training ground, an all-round good egg. The second veteran signing, of course, was the hero against Bournemouth, Henderson.
In many ways, the front three of Joao Pedro, Palmer and Morgan Rogers speaks for itself. Chelsea supporters are certainly not the only Premier League fans enjoying the chemistry the trio have struck up.
Palmer is still part-superstar part-meme, announcing hislucrative new contracton a live stream hours before playing for Chelsea and then walking home down the Fulham Road after a5-1 win. Chelsea have reached a turning point - the end of the 'banter era' of spectacularly failed transfers Rogers, Joao Pedro, Maxence Lacroix and Moises Caicedo are good people and hard-working professionals whose performances on the pitch only help to ingratiate themselves with a fanbase still firmly invested in the careers of Chelsea academy products Josh Acheampong, Levi Colwill and the club captain Reece James.
Xabi Alonso exudes competence - committed for the long-term, which towards the end it didn't always feel as though Enzo Maresca was. And truly elite, which it never felt as though Liam Rosenior was.