If Chelsea scale the heights back to the top of the Premier League over the next eight months, a goal scored during a regulation home win against likely strugglers will not be among those that quickly spring to mind. Yet Eden Hazard's opener against Burnley certainly bears re-watching; the reaction to it is worth listening to as well. The roar around Stamford Bridge rose well above standard early-season levels after Hazard, scampering 60 yards before cutting inside and firing low, beat Tom Heaton.
"That's our boy," it said. "That's exactly what we had missed."
It is little surprise to see Hazard, who did not score a Premier League goal last season until April and cut a forlorn figure for long periods of the campaign, named on the shortlist for August's divisional player of the month. Nor should anyone be shocked to see his manager, Antonio Conte, in line for the equivalent award. Hazard ended last season brightly, but the decline of their most gifted player was symptomatic of Chelsea's wider malaise. That his improvement has accelerated since Conte's arrival does not appear a coincidence, and just like those darker times, his reinvigoration -- already averaging more than twice as many shots on goal as last season -- feels closely linked to that of his team.
Conte has put Chelsea straight on the front foot.
"At the beginning it was a bit scary because he works players initially," said Oscar, another player cutting an entirely different figure under the Italian. "But when you look at the results on the pitch you know he's done it for a reason. It's good for me."
This hard work has been designed to replicate the high-energy approach that will be familiar to anybody versed in Conte's work with Juventus and, more recently, Italy. The signing of N'Golo Kante was fundamental to hastening the change and the indefatigable France international appears to have caused those around him to step up a gear. You need someone to set the tone and Kante, stationed in front of the defence with license to maraud as appropriate, does exactly that. Nemanja Matic, often subdued last season, has certainly looked his dynamic self and Hazard's burst of life have been less fitful, more in line with the high demands Conte places on his wide players.
A closer look at that Hazard strike against Burnley shows the three working together exactly as Conte would intend. A Burnley move breaks down and Kante, first to the ball after stepping up higher than any other Chelsea player to close down the attack, nudges it to Matic. The Serbian's left foot opens up the angle of attack and a quick 20-yard pass sends Hazard away. It resembles the fast, incisive football from which Chelsea departed all too often last season.
Conte encourages Chelsea's midfield to push higher. The old model of two deep-lying players -- a pair from Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Jon Obi Mikel -- has been replaced by a system that sees Matic and Oscar positioned ahead of Kante. Oscar's role holds particular interest; the Brazilian was strongly linked with a move during the summer after a frustrating 2015-16 that including a high-profile bust-up with Diego Costa, but a two-goal performance in preseason against AC Milan appeared to help sway Conte and his purposeful running between the boxes fits the manager's approach neatly for now.
"He can improve a lot, I think, but I am seeing in him a good attitude, a good will," Conte said after that friendly with the Rossoneri. That is half the battle with Conte: show you have the aggression and desire that the merest look toward the dugout reveals he possesses in abundance, and you are someone who can take the team forward.
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The changes have hardly been wholesale but this tweaked midfield has been effective so far, and three wins from three have garnered the kind of momentum that Conte -- an eloquent and powerful speaker whose words "assault you," according to his former charge Andrea Pirlo -- relishes.
There are, of course, caveats. One is that Chelsea have yet to be stretched to the limit; Watford, like Burnley, look likely to be lower-half candidates while West Ham bore the look of a team in flux during their meeting on the opening weekend. The concern also exists that Chelsea need quality alternatives when things are not going to plan: Cesc Fabregas certainly provided one when replacing Matic late on at Vicarage Road, but he does not appear to have the legs for Conte's style. The kind of subtlety Fabregas offers has clear benefits, but a season on the periphery looks likely and Conte may well choose to freshen his options up in January.
Until then, Chelsea go with what they have. Theirs was an imperfect transfer window; Marcos Alonso does not appear a top-quality left-back and the signing of David Luiz might allow Conte to experiment with the back three he favoured at times with Juventus, but it felt rushed. One thing Luiz does have, though, is a genuine affection for Chelsea. "I love this club, so that's why I am here," he said upon his return to Stamford Bridge, and even if nobody quite knows at which end his forays upfield will cause the most panic he will be an upbeat, positive character around the squad.
That counts for something. Conte's feel-good factor, engendered face-to-face rather than via the media, has taken Chelsea in an encouraging direction so far.
"He's tried to give us confidence," Hazard said. "He knows players because he used to be one."
That may or may not have been an indirect dig at predecessor Jose Mourinho, but the point was well made. Under Conte, Chelsea and Hazard look as if they are putting any extraneous factors to one side and simply enjoying being footballers again.