There were scenes of jubilation on Saturday after such a long wait, but enough of King Charles’s accession to the throne. Our first three points for a while wasn’t a wait of seven decades, but it was beginning to feel like it was a very long time.

When Joao Felix scored our third goal there was definitely relief in the air. We all knew we had ridden our luck in some moments down at Bournemouth, but how many times have Chelsea been the better team with tons more possession, corners and chances yet have lost the match this season. You have to take the little bits of luck and use it when you can. This time we did.

It was noticeable the three scorers were players who weren’t even at the club last season, with Conor Gallagher still being out on his successful loan period at Crystal Palace.

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Benoit Badiashile was at Monaco but is still, having recently turned 22, very young for a Premier League centre-back. That back-post strike, his first for the club, is another step in the direction that in time looks likely to see him as a stalwart starter in our backline for many years to come.

The goal by Joao Felix was an overdue reward for him being among the liveliest and probably the most creative-looking player this season at the club, and of course he was still at Atletico Madrid last year. His third league goal brings his Chelsea ratio close to his career average of one goal in roughly every four appearances, not bad at all for that position. Certainly, he has always wanted to get on the ball and try to make things happen.

Last week I wrote about fans forgiving players who work hard, keep trying and are brave enough to always be willing to try to do the right thing, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. Chelsea fans specifically always support players with those attitudes, no matter how the results are going. Joao Felix will always give you that, every time he is on the field.

Breath of fresh air

We didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for, and the fans wanted, against Arsenal last week, particularly in the first half, but there were exceptions. The most obvious was our young winger Noni Madueke. It wasn’t just his goal but his all-round positive attitude that caught everyone’s attention. The bravery to want the ball, all the time and the willingness to take those chances and at least try to beat his man, was an incredible breath of fresh air.

You also have to have the skill to beat players and he has certainly shown no deficiency in that area. Add on top of that his tenacity and some blinding pace to boot, and suddenly he has jumped from being a young outsider to being close to undroppable. He wasn’t dropped by Frank Lampard after Arsenal and once again showed a Premier League defender at Bournemouth that he is a serious handful who is quickly growing in stature.

It sometimes seems odd that you need to tell players, especially creative ones, that they need to take players on, be willing to make mistakes or even lose the ball in the final third, but you have to do that with some players, particularly but not always the younger ones.

The real trick

A great example is being shown this season by Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace. I watch Eze, Olise and Zaha a great deal and suddenly they are trying all sorts of skills with almost total abandon. The effect has been to not only increase their belief and the chances they have made, but it has also lifted the other players around them. Roy has simply let them off the leash or demanded that they run free when attacking, and I reckon you are seeing the same thing 40 miles further south in Brighton where Roberto De Zerbi’s men have been as fearless as any team in the world.

It is hard to always be that carefree on the ball, even if Chelsea fans are forever trying to explain that we are ‘carefree wherever we may be.’ But that is the real trick. Even when things are going badly you have to keep on trying to do what you are good at while being encouraged and supported. If you are going to be successful, you cannot just be tempted to play the easy sideways pass all the time. Average players might do that, top players must do more and the fans know it.

It is also worth not ducking the fact two players didn’t get the best reception from some of the travelling fans when they came off the bench down on the South Coast.

Hakim Ziyech and Raheem Sterling should not take this too personally. It is no more than fans demanding and expecting more from two players who have shown in the past they have real quality, specifically in those creative areas I have been talking about. They may have struggled to be at their best this season but in these circumstances, you can react in two ways. You can go in a huff and feel you are not being ‘respected’ or you can get out there and show that you can be creative and that you are still a quality player.

Hopefully the assists from both players on the day to win the game was a sign of the right reactions, but it is an attitude that has to be shown every single week and every time you pull on that shirt.

Nobody is claiming that the team has turned any major corners with those three points. We all hoped for a more immediate impact from many of our new young players. Maybe it isn’t a surprise it has taken some a little while, and may even take some a while longer, to flourish into the players they will finally be.

I think we have seen enough moments from Wesley Fofana, Badiashile, now Madueke and bit by bit, Mudryk, to give hope there will be improvement next season. Others will hopefully join the party in good time but it has been an incredibly difficult season to blood young players.

How it should be

These last four games may not be that meaningful in the wider scheme of things regarding things like qualification for Europe, but they will give the management, this season and next, a real opportunity to see who is willing to do the hard things when the chips are down. As a current player, every minute this season will count for the opportunities you might get the start of next season.

Noni Madueke is in a great position and those now behind him in the pecking order have to show something special to dislodge him. That is how it should be at a top-level club, which is where we want to be again as soon as possible.

I am in Milan for the derby in the Champions League semi-final tomorrow. It hurts that it isn’t Chelsea but having watched these two clubs recently, with the right drive and direction, I know we can get back here soon enough.