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Chelsea have been far from boring this season.
Under Xabi Alonso, they have scored the third most Premier League goals in 2026-27 (15), but also conceded the joint most (13), level with Bournemouth. Indeed, it was the Cherries who Chelsea put five past on Saturday, showing how good their young squad can really be when they’re motoring. However, it was an older head who rose to the occasion, and we’ll bring you some of the more eyebrow-raising numbers from that game in this week’s SVQ.
We’ll be travelling across Europe otherwise, though, with a bonus stat from the Bundesliga, and a tale of a frankly astonishing game from the top flight in Sweden.
As well as all that, we’ve got your usual footy quiz, and an Ask Opta question about players who can find the net, but have never taken home a match ball.
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😮 STAT: Rapid Young Blues Inspired by… Jordan Henderson?
It may have been a surprise to some that Jordan Henderson started Chelsea’s home game with Bournemouth on Saturday. It will have been even more surprising how he started it.
The former Liverpool and Brentford midfielder took less than two and a half minutes to record both a goal and an assist at Stamford Bridge, setting the table for what proved to be a big win for Xabi Alonso’s side.
First, Henderson swept in a terrific opening goal after being set up by Cole Palmer, before he teed up Morgan Rogers to curl in a second after just two minutes and 29 seconds. It was the earliest that Chelsea have ever been 2-0 up in a Premier League match.
Only Emile Heskey (vs Derby County in April 1998) has previously scored and assisted earlier in a Premier League game than Henderson did here.
He wasn’t done, though. In the 70th minute, Henderson bent in a free-kick for his second goal of the game, completing the 5-1 rout.