Thiago Silva an important offensive weapon for Chelsea as well as a top defender

Thiago Silva has had a brilliant start to the season for Chelsea, carrying on where left off last season, but looking even more comfortable in his new home and in a new system.

Against Tottenham a couple of weeks ago he was majestic, and a glance at his stats for the season so far show how good he’s been overall.

Not only is he picking up more clearances, interceptions and tackles than most of his teammates, according to the stats on WhoScored, he’s also top of the “long balls stat” among the regular outfield players, pinging an impressive average of 4 per game.

He knows the system so well now, he can instinctively just switch play to his wing backs, helping boost his stats.

Given all that, it’s a real blow that he won’t be able to play for the Blues in our next game, as he will return from international duty with Brazil so late that he won’t be able to feature against Brentford.