Caicedo collected a huge 86 per cent of the votes on the Chelsea Official App, and several pundits declared him the best midfielder in the league after the game such was the impact he had on it, starting with his spectacular goal on 14 minutes.

Collecting a pass from Malo Gusto, Caicedo opened up his body to get away from Alexis Mac Allister. The Ecuadorian strode forward and, not being closed down, feinted to shoot to open up more space between Liverpool’s centre-backs, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.

A split-second later the shot did arrive, from a good 22 yards out. It was hit with such ferocity and accuracy that even though the tall Giorgi Mamardashvili got fingers to it, he was powerless to stop the ball crashing into the top left-hand corner. The Expected Goals (xG) rating for the effort was just 0.04.

That was Caicedo’s third goal of the season, already more than he managed throughout 2024/25. His accurate and consistent finishing is a welcome additional string to his bow.

‘The goal speaks for his qualities and how good he is,’ said Reece James afterwards.

‘I’m not sure some people understand how good he is. He plays at another level.’

Caicedo was not done there. He then set about dominating the midfield battle, cutting off Liverpool’s supply line with his expert positioning and reading of the game.

He won possession back for us five times and was also successful with two tackles. Only Reece James made more of those in blue.

What will no doubt have caught every Chelsea fan’s eye was the ground Caicedo covered from first minute to last. In the dying embers of the game, it looked like Liverpool sub Andy Robertson might get away in our box, but there was Caicedo to step across and shepherd the ball out for a goal-kick.

Even then, he looked like the freshest player on the pitch – and that’s despite being the only Blue to have played every minute of every league games so far this term. His touch map below shows he was, simply, everywhere!

Caicedo’s distribution was also of the highest order. His 45 completed passes was the joint-third most of anyone in blue, with nine of those played in the final third.

If you watch our winning goal back, you will see it was Caicedo’s pinpoint first-time pass into Romeo Lavia’s feet that helped us bypass the Liverpool press and quickly move the ball up the pitch from where Enzo Fernandez, Marc Cucurella and Estevao Willian would combine to seal the points.

Not long before then, Caicedo had tried his luck from distance again, Mamardashvili tipping his rising drive over the crossbar on that occasion. No Chelsea player attempted more than his two shots, and nobody had more on target.

There were plenty of impressive performances from those wearing blue at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but yet again it was Caicedo who stood above the rest, cementing his status as a complete midfield player.