Pat Nevin: Chelsea having Cesc Fabregas as N'Golo Kante's replacement is bordering on unfair

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Pat Nevin has praised Cesc Fabregas' impact in Chelsea's 3-0 win over Middlesbrough on Monday night, insisting the end result was "never in doubt" despite N'Golo Kante's absence from the team.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte handed Fabregas a rare Premier League start for the visit of Boro after Kante failed to recover from a thigh injury.

Fabregas, who has largely been used as a substitute by Conte this season, went on to shine as the Spaniard first set up Diego Costa for Chelsea's opener before creating Nemanja Matic's strike in the second half which helped the Blues seal a 3-0 victory.

Chelsea now need just one more win to secure the Premier League title, and Nevin felt Fabregas was key to the comfortable victory over Boro because of the way he controlled the game from the start of the game.

Writing in his column on Chelsea's website, Nevin said: "Maybe Boro and Spurs fans thought that with everyone’s player of the year, N’Golo Kante, unavailable, Chelsea would be put off their stride but having as his replacement Cesc Fabregas was bordering on unfair.

"When it quickly became clear that Cesc was on a mission to control the game, the result was never in doubt. It was a question of how many. Cesc fancied making a chance every time he got on the ball and that was most of the time.

"The crowd seemed similarly confident without ever being arrogant. That has been one of the signatures of this group this season, arrogance can lead to complacency and that usually comes unstuck in the Premier League.

"That has never been the case as the work-rate rarely drops when the opposition has the ball. They hunted in packs last night and even with the ball-winner-in-chief sat in the stands, Marcos Alonso, Fabregas, Victor Moses and particularly Nemanja Matic seemed to take offence when they weren’t in control of the ball."

He added: "For all that the players must be applauded for that attitude, it clearly stems from the manager and the ethics he instils and demands from everyone.

"Another delightful factor was the speed and the intricacy of the passing. It was purposeful and sharp and impossible for Middlesbrough to live with.

"When you consider the shots on target, the bar being rattled twice and a whole host of crosses zipping across the visitors’ six-yard box pleading to be touched into the net, the 3-0 scoreline was far from a true reflection of the domination."

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