It is quite a turn-around in the Blues’ fortunes from that distance, considering that in the whole of last season we only managed to score five times from outside the penalty area, less than half of the tally of 12 we have so far in 2021/22.

We have been particularly potent from range in the Premier League, with Rudiger’s strike against Brentford the ninth of this season’s 12 to come in that competition, more than any other top-flight side.

The German's goal is certainly one that will live long in the memory, smashing a drive in off the inside of the left-hand post from 38.4 yards out. It is our longest-range Premier League effort since David Luiz's strike against Fulham in 2013 which was measured at 38.74 yards.

It also continued a trend which started right at the beginning of the Premier League campaign, when we beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on the opening day.

On that occasion, a Marcos Alonso free-kick opened the scoring and our account for the season, and there was more to come as Trevoh Chalobah’s low drive from outside the box completed the victory and gave the defender even more reason to celebrate on his top-flight debut and first senior match at the Bridge.

Rudiger became the ninth different Chelsea player to score from outside the box in 2021/22. It was the first time he had done so in a Blues shirt, despite threatening with plenty of dangerous long-range efforts ever since he joined the club in 2017, but the closest he had previously come was when rattling the crossbar against Liverpool earlier this year.

It is not just from long-range we have been more effective in front of goal this season, though. In our 59 games in all competitions during the whole of last term we managed a total of 97 goals, whereas Rudiger’s strike meant we had surpassed that figure with our 98th goal in our 50th game, with two months of the campaign still to play.

Perhaps it was inevitable another long-range goal would arrive in this fixture, given that Brentford had already conceded from outside the box 10 times this season, the most of any Premier League team, and have now gone 13 away league games without keeping a clean sheet, a run dating back to September.

In addition to Alonso, Chalobah and Rudiger, it is Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Saul Niguez who have all scored once each from outside the box this season, while both N’Golo Kante’s goals in 2021/22 were from range and Hakim Ziyech leads the way with three.

Sadly for Toni on Saturday afternoon, his spectacular was overshadowed by what turned into a 4-1 defeat.