Premier League News

VIDEO: Fabregas being told that his assist for Costa goal vs. Boro won’t count – awkward!

The Chelsea pass master set a new assist record on Monday night but was involved in a bit of a sticky post-match moment with a Sky Sports presenter.

By admin

You can’t teach the kind of vision that Cesc Fabregas has on the ball. The Chelsea man is quite simply a footballing genius, and a true lover of the game.

Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea 3-0 Middlesbrough, Premier League

That is why he is able to register 11 league assists in as many starts during a season where he has played a second fiddle to other midfielders at the club.

His latest two assists came on Monday night in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Middlesbrough. There was a bit of contention about the Spaniard’s stats, however.

The Premier League just couldn’t decide whether Fabregas’ pass for Diego Costa’s should have been credited as an assist or not. Watch the play below.

Assist or no assist? | Chelsea 3-0 Middlesbrough | EPL 08/05/17

The reason for wanting to deny Fabregas his assist was because, as can be seen in the footage above, the ball hit Boro’s Fabio as it went to Costa.

During his post-match interview with Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones, it was postulated to the midfielder that he had 10 assists for the season.

But believing he had 11 (he also assisted Nemanja Matic later in the match), the Chelsea man produced a puzzled reaction and corrected Jones.

But then the presenter explained the situation, forcing Fabregas, who turned 30 on Thursday last week, to concede his assist. Watch the footage below.

Fabregas’ hilarious reaction to having his assist taken away

At the end of the day, the assist for the opening goal WAS given to Fabregas after it was decided that Fabio’s intervention hadn’t too much to change the course of the ball that was fed to Costa.

The Chelsea #4 is now the first player to record 10 or more assists across six different Premier League seasons.

Chelsea are now seven points clear of closest challengers Tottenham, and will wrap up their second title in three years if they can beat West Brom on Friday.

Fabregas proud despite reduced playing time

Speaking after the 3-0 win, the former Barcelona man expressed his pride at having been able to cope with time on the bench and hope that Chelsea will complete their league and FA Cup double this season.

“It’s been a different year for me, I’m used to playing every year at every club I’ve been at but I’ve matured a lot,” Fabregas told Sky Sports.

Chelseas-Cesc-Fabregas-celebrates-scoring-their-first-goal-with-Victor-Moses-and-Pedro

“It’s not easy and people told me I’m not the type of player for Antonio and that I should leave, but I like challenges.

“Obviously I haven’t played every game but I’ve played in the last 20 matches. I feel the quality of my minutes has been fantastic, my contribution is perhaps bigger than a full season where I play every game.

“I’ve had to have patience and play for the team and hopefully we can win another title and win another [FA Cup] final. I’m proud of what I’ve done and proud of the team.”

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