Squad members throughout a busy campaign, Saul Niguez and Ross Barkley found themselves behind Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the central midfield pecking order, but still made 37 appearances between them.

Saul’s season

It was a difficult start to life at the Bridge for Saul, who was withdrawn at half-time of his debut against Aston Villa. He did gradually acclimatise to the pace and power of English football, though, helped by a run of games in the Carabao Cup.

His versatility proved useful to Thomas Tuchel throughout the season, as he switched between a central midfield berth and left wing-back.

Tuchel also leaned on Saul’s European experience, with a good chunk of his minutes coming in the Champions League. He was brought off the bench at crucial junctures of our knockout games at home to Lille and away to Real Madrid.

In all, Saul played 23 times, 12 from the start. He was on the pitch for the final 45 minutes of our extra-time Club World Cup triumph against Palmeiras, steadying the ship after a period of dominance for our Brazilian opponents, and scored his only Chelsea goal in the FA Cup win at Luton Town in March, a fine finish from the edge of the box.

Barkley back in blue

Having spent the previous season out on loan, Barkley linked up with Tuchel for the first time in pre-season and got his maiden minutes of 2021/22 as a sub in our Carabao Cup win over Aston Villa, scoring in the successful shoot-out.

Barkley made a meaningful impact off the bench against Southampton in early October, playing an exquisite diagonal pass to Cesar Azpilicueta who in turn found Timo Werner to put us ahead very late on. Further sub appearances followed against Norwich and Newcastle in big wins, and Barkley’s performances were rewarded with a league start against Burnley at the beginning of November.

During a hectic festive period when injury and illness afflicted the squad, Barkley started at Zenit St Petersburg and Brentford in the Champions League and Carabao Cup respectively, and came off the bench against Everton for what would be his final league involvement until our last match.

There, against Watford, he headed the winning goal in stoppage time, becoming our 21st different scorer of the campaign. In the FA Cup final a week earlier, he found the bottom corner from the spot in our shoot-out defeat to Liverpool, having been brought on in the final minute of extra-time to take a penalty.

Saul 2021/22 Chelsea stats

Appearances: 23Starts: 12Substituted: 15Unused sub: 32Minutes played: 1,315Goals: 1Assists: 0

Ross Barkley 2021/22 Chelsea stats

Appearances: 14Starts: 4Substituted: 4Unused sub: 30Minutes played: 496Goals: 1Assists: 0

Saul Premier League appearances 2021/22

Saul played 10 games in the Premier League for Chelsea, coming off the bench in half of them.

Saul Champions League appearances 2021/22

Saul made five appearances in the Champions League this season, one of them from the start.

Saul FA Cup appearances 2021/22

Saul played three games in the FA Cup this season, two of them from the start.

Saul Carabao Cup appearances 2021/22

Saul made four appearances in the Carabao Cup this season, all from the start.

Saul FIFA Club World Cup appearances 2021/22

Saul made one appearance in the Club World Cup, coming off the bench in the final against Palmeiras.

Saul goals 2021/22

Saul scored one goal for Chelsea in 2021/22, against Luton in the FA Cup.

Ross Barkley Premier League appearances 2021/22

Ross Barkley played six times in the Premier League for Chelsea, coming off the bench in five of them.

Ross Barkley Champions League appearances 2021/22

Ross Barkley made three appearances in the Champions League this season, one of them from the start.

Ross Barkley FA Cup appearances 2021/22

Ross Barkley played two games in the FA Cup this season, both off the bench.

Ross Barkley Carabao Cup appearances 2021/22

Ross Barkley made three appearances in the Carabao Cup this season, two from the start.

Ross Barkley goals 2021/22

Ross Barkley scored one goal for Chelsea in 2021/22, our last of the season against Watford.