Chelsea were able to bounce back from their last Premier League defeat against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend after beating Manchester United on Saturday, and they have Romeo Lavia largely to thank.

Lavia was brilliant in the victory over Michael Carrick’s side as Chelsea went on to win 2-0. He won the ball back and played it to Morgan Rogers for his sensational opener and was constantly involved in the game.

After completing Chelsea’s Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool during the week, Lavia has now played the full 90 minutes in back-to-back matches. It is hugely encouraging for Xabi Alonso after all the injury problems his midfielder has suffered since arriving at Stamford Bridge.

Since the full-time whistle, Lavia has come in for a lot of praise, including from his teammates. In response to a post he shared on Instagram after the game, Estevao Willian posted: “So good”.

Estevao himself impressed against United, so that is another individual performance Alonso will be pleased with. Underneath the same post, Moises Caicedo replied: “World class”. After the way Lavia played, it is hard to disagree!

There were many more comments, including from Josh Acheampong, who responded with “too good”. But just how good was Lavia’s performance? Honestly, it may have been Lavia’s best outing in a Chelsea shirt.

The Belgian’s display was so complete. As ever, he was great at receiving the ball and starting Chelsea attacks by bringing it forward and passing it ahead of him and not behind or sideways. But as well as that, defensively, Lavia was also excellent.

According to Sofascore, the Belgium international made more defensive contributions than any other Chelsea player, winning four of the five tackles he attempted. Lavia’s stats were very good on the day, but anyone who watched the game would say that the former Southampton man also passed the eye test.