12 months ago, Maurizio Sarri surged into a 14 game unbeaten streak during his maiden spell in charge of Chelsea. 

Football managers shelf life at Stamford Bridge is often shortly lived and despite the Italian's Europa League triumph and a fourth place finish in the Premier League, Sarri was made redundant come the end of May. 

Part of his pitfall was his perceived negative style of play- ironically, it was two of his recruits that felt the backlash of the 'Sarriball' criticism. Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic couldn't get a break from the media when they first landed in England but now, fully settled, they're earning back the praise they deserve. 

Turf Moor maestros

Chelsea are undergoing their own run of fine form, Frank Lampard winning seven consecutive matches to give his fledgling managerial career some real subsistence. 

The most recent of these an impressive 4-2 win away to Sean Dyche's Burnley, cementing their sport in the Champions League spots. 

Christian Pulisic rightly took all the headlines for his perfect hatrick yet it was Chelsea's midfield duo that really ran the show. Jorginho and Kovacic were cool, calm and composed in every element of their game, giving the platform for the their team mates to expressive themselves further forward. 

It was their passing game that was so impressive; Jorginho (93.7%) and Kovacic's (91.8%) pass accuracy was far and above anyone else who lasted the full 90 minutes. They also both achieved the highest amount of touches, highlighting how in control they were of the tie. 

It is a nod to how Lampard has energised this side that in the reverse fixture last campaign, a 2-2 draw at the Bridge, Jorginho only achieved 87.7% PA, Kovacic 86.7%- touch wise, the later managed just 60 compared to the 123 he clocked up on Saturday. 

“They completely ran the show."

One man was especially pleased with the performance of Chelsea's central-midfielders- amusingly, the plaudits came from a man formerly of Tottenham Hotspur. 

Jermaine Jenas justifiably spotlighted how well the pair did on Match of the Day as he analysed the Blues put four past Burnley.

"They completely ran the show," Jenas commented, capped 155 times by Spurs. "They dictated the pace of the game, when they were going to attack, when they were going to slow it down. Simple little passes that take three players out of the game."

Sarri often partnered Kovacic and Jorginho in a 4-3-3 formation, alongside N'Golo Kante but split them up when he predictably replaced the Croat with Barkley in and around the 65 minute mark.

Against the Clarets, it seemed their connection hadn't been broken in the slightest, understanding one another and aware when to stay or to hold their position.

Jenas also alluded to this, saying, "They were both in the hundreds in terms of passes made and touches, 90% in terms of accuracy of the passes and it was the regaining of the passes that was big as well, they passed the ball to each other more than any midfield pairing this season."

Finally, the MOTD pundit referred back to how Sarri had hampered two extremely talented international footballers. 

"Kovacic is a top player and I think under Sarri maybe he didn’t really show he had the ability and I think Frank has given him a little bit more freedom and the pair of them looked like the real mature heads in that team, they were fantastic.”

Lampard's luxury dilemma

Very few teams in world football could even consider not playing Kante in the starting line up but this could be the dilemma facing Lampard in the near future.

The World Cup winner has been plagued with injury, meaning Lampard hasn't been able to consistently deploy his fantastic Frenchman. 

Lampard commented on the extent of Kante's problems as reported by TalkSport that was sustained at the tale end of last season.

“I think now it is time to take a small step back just to get his fitness up and be confident that we won’t have a domino effect with small injuries, so there’s no actual timeframe.”

In his absence, Jorginho and Kovacic are now the Blues boss's generals in the middle of the park and if they continue in their vein of form, it may be a struggle for Kante squeeze back into the set up.