Burnley 0-2 Chelsea ANALYSIS: The star who was the Blues' most impressive player

Every now and then, the elite tacticians can be accused of trying to be too clever for their own good. Marc Cucurella inverting not only into midfield but as a No 10 and into the front line? You sure, Enzo? You know he is a left back? OK. Whatever you say.

That only makes it all the more sweeter when it works, as it did for Maresca here to take Chelsea up to second in the Premier League before Manchester City's evening clash with Newcastle.

Cucurella was the highest player up the pitch when Tosin Adarabioyo had the ball in the Blues' back line after 37 lacklustre minutes from the visitors at Turf Moor.

The Spaniard made a burst in behind and Adarabioyo launched it long. Cucurella kept it alive, held it up as two markers harassed him, and gave possession to Jamie Gittens, whose cross was a peach. It floated over Burnley's back line and Pedro Neto made it 1-0.

Et voilà: a plan perfectly executed for Maresca. You can see the risks to this strategy. One counter and where is your left back? Oh, he's the one in the front line with the nose bleed.

But it helped Chelsea secure their ninth win out of 12 games played without Cole Palmer, who might otherwise have been in those spaces occupied by Cucurella were his newly-broken little toe not currently wrapped in cotton wool.

Estevao vs Neto

Maresca can only have been delighted with how Chelsea made it 2-0 from back to front. Robert Sanchez could have panicked while being pressed. He could have booted the ball towards the Lancashire hills behind Turf Moor. Instead, he passed it to Malo Gusto, who found Neto.

Maresca has a nice problem in Estevao Willian versus Neto. One is the fan-favourite 18-year-old Brazilian. The other is the 25-year-old Portuguese who is proving so difficult to displace on Chelsea's right-hand side because of the calibre of his performances.

Estevao was kitted up and primed to come on in the 88th minute when he saw Gusto find Neto, whose reverse pass into Marc Guiu led to Enzo Fernandez scoring.

With that, Estevao was told to pop his bib back on as Neto was finishing the full 90.

Santos impresses

This was the first time under Maresca that Chelsea have played a Premier League game without Moises Caicedo featuring at all. It was a good opportunity to rest for Caicedo after an exhausting international break in which Ecuador handed him back-to-back full 90s.

In his place, Andrey Santos was this match's most impressive player. Three tackles, four interceptions, one block to deny a promising Burnley chance – it felt as if he bossed this victory.

Maresca does not mind a triple change at half-time. He has done it four times this season versus Qarabag, Ajax, Nottingham Forest and Brentford.

It looked like another three substitutes might be needed as Burnley had been the better side in the first half, and Scott Parker was unhappy they were not awarded a penalty for Trevoh Chalobah picking up the ball in the box. Parker believed Robert Sanchez had taken his goal-kick by squaring it to Chalobah, making the ball live.

With Chelsea scoring, only Reece James made way at half-time, and the good news for the Blues is we are told their captain is perfectly fine. His removal was pre-planned to protect him before the visits of Barcelona and Arsenal in the next week.