There cannot have been many Blues fans who like a bet placing their money at the start of the season on Jorginho being Chelsea’s top Premier League goalscorer in 2020/21.Afterall, his two previous seasons at the club had yielded six goals between them in the competition, but he had developed into the first-choice penalty-taker and it was from that source that the seven goals he netted last campaign came, a total that was one goal greater than those by Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Timo Werner.Yet it was not all smooth from the spot for our no.5 during the season. With Cesar Azpilicueta on the bench, he wore the captain’s armband for the opening day victory at Brighton and played the pass from which Timo Werner won a penalty, converted by Jorginho for our first goal of the season.

Ups and downs of a penalty taker

In early October, Jorginho netted two penalties in the space of four minutes against Crystal Palace and in doing so, became the first Chelsea player to score two penalties in a match for us twice, having also done so at home to Ajax in the Champions League the previous season.However later that same month, the Blues won a Champions League group game in Krasnodar by four goals to nil but it would have been more had Jorginho not struck the post with a penalty.

Werner did score from the spot in that game in Russia and two games later he was still on spot-kicks and scored two of them against Rennes, with Lampard confirming afterwards that Jorginho had been moved down the pecking order.‘It’s harsh from me, isn’t it,’ Lampard said. ‘I had a conversation with Jorginho and his answer was perfect for a professional. He doesn’t care who takes them, he just wants to score.’However come December and the return game against Krasnodar, Werner was not on the pitch when another was awarded so Jorginho stepped up once more and although he would miss one more before the end of 2020/21, so would Werner so the midfielder remained the taker with four more scored, winning crucial points with the only goal of the game at Tottenham (when he smashed his kick) and winners at Sheffield United and at home to Leicester, in that vital penultimate league game for our top-four hopes.No other Chelsea player has scored 100 per cent of his Premier League goals from penalties, discounting Pato who took only one.

Under new management

He finished the season with the sixth most starts in all competitions, including in that glorious Champions League final climax in Porto, and against the club from that city, in the quarter-finals, he was named man of the match by UEFA and registered an assist with a defence-splitting pass for Mason Mount to open the scoring in a 2-0 win, in a tie that ended 2-1.

For Jorginho however, despite all his contributions on the pitch with his fluid passing and movement and availability, the most iconic image of 2020/21 was with him in the stands, suspended in the previous Champions League round against Atletico Madrid, but epitomising the togetherness of the squad in that triumphant campaign when celebrating a late goal by his Italy team-mate Emerson.

Jorginho's 2020/21 Chelsea stats

Appearances: 43Starts: 38Substituted: 12Unused sub: 13Minutes played: 3,484Goals: 8 (8 pens)Assists: 3

Jorginho's Premier League appearances 2020/21

Jorginho played 28 games in the Premier League for Chelsea this season, coming off the bench for five of them.

Jorginho's Champions League appearances 2020/21

Jorginho played in 12 out of the 13 games, all starts and the joint-most by any Chelsea player.

Jorginho FA Cup appearances 2020/21

Jorginho played two games in the FA Cup this season, all starts.

Jorginho Carabao Cup appearances 2020/21

Jorginho played once in the Carabao Cup this season, again from the start.

Jorginho goals 2020/21

Jorginho scored eight times for Chelsea in 2020/21, seven in the Premier League and once in the Champions League.