£28.5m winger can earn his first team spot back tonight – his xG and xAG prove it

Noni Madueke was left out of the Chelsea team to face Aston Villa at the weekend, marking his first departure from Enzo Maresca’s primary selection since August.

The winger is having a great season, producing goals and assists and working hard out wide. He’s giving Maresca what he demands – but after a few games without a goal or an assist, the pressure of the other players pushing for minutes proved too much, and Madueke dropped to the bench.

In a roundabout way, his exclusion is a way of getting Enzo Fernandez back into the team. Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho started out wide, with Enzo playing alongside Cole Palmer in the middle behind the striker.

Madueke’s numbers are good – he has the third best non penalty expected goals per 90 in the squad, and the 5th best expected assists per 90 in the Premier League. So clearly, despite a quiet run, he’s making things happen around the box. His defending is top notch, especially compared to his rivals for minutes.

Madueke has an instant chance to strike back

For tonight’s game, Madueke has a great chance of coming right back into the team. If Enzo Maresca wants to rest one of his attackers (and Neto, Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson are surely all in line for a game off), Madueke will be first in line to come back in. That will have made his dropping at the weekend a little easier to take.

But he knows he has to perform tonight to battle back into the team that will be picked to play Spurs at the weekend, and we expect a super motivated showing tonight. That is a perfect example of this deep squad at work, driving individuals on rather than letting them rest on their laurels.