In Focus: Enzo getting up to speed for Chelsea after Brighton brace

Enzo Fernandez put in a match-winning performance against Brighton on Sunday.

The Chelsea midfielder scored with a header and from the penalty spot, helping his side to a 3-2 triumph — despite Conor Gallagher's red card just before half-time.

It was an important victory for the Blues and one of Fernandez's best performances since arriving at Stamford Bridge in January, as he netted his first Premier League goals.

Ahead of tonight's clash with Manchester United, we take a closer look at the Argentine's season so far.

Confidence boost

Chelsea did not pay over £100million for Fernandez to score goals.

He is primarily in the team for his ability to dictate games in midfield and provide the ammunition for his more advanced team-mates.

But — as Mauricio Pochettino noted after the game — a brace against Brighton will have done the 22-year-old's confidence no harm.

The Blues boss said: "It's important that different players can score. For Enzo, it was his first and second goal in the Premier League.

"We are always talking about confidence, it is important that they are building that confidence.

"Players always need six months or one season to start to show their real quality, why is it going to be different at Chelsea?

"I'm so happy that different players could score goals, to help the team."

Midfield metronome

While goals are a welcome bonus, Fernandez has done his main job well in the Premier League this season.

No Chelsea player has completed more passes into the final third than the Buenos Aires native (209), while he ranks first in the squad for attempted (11) and completed (five) through-balls.

Fernandez has also racked up an impressive 1,050 touches and has a passing accuracy of 88.88%.

Typically lining up in a double pivot system, the 19-cap international is tasked with being the ball-playing midfielder alongside a more effective tackler like Moises Caicedo.

That dynamic is largely working for Chelsea, even if results and performances are still inconsistent.

Fernandez's double on Sunday will have pleased Pochettino, not because the former Benfica man is likely to become prolific — but because it means he is growing more influential for the Blues.

Forward strides

Slowly but surely, Fernandez is proving himself to be indispensable under Pochettino at Chelsea.

There were some raised eyebrows at his price tag in January, particularly for a player unlikely to make headlines regularly for scoring goals.

But former Chelsea manager Graham Potter made a prescient comment back in March.

He said: "He [Fernandez] is going to get better and better, because he's just arrived from another country, another league.

"He's going to have to adapt to that."

The adaptation appears to have taken place — and as Chelsea prepare to face United, they can look forward to what is still to come from one of the world's best young midfielders.