UK Edition
How the chance of a run of games allowed Alvaro Morata to break the Chelsea No 9 shirt curse
Mateja Kezman, Hernan Crespo, Khalid Boulahrouz, Steve Sidwell, Franco Di Santo, Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao.
A half-decent seven-a-side team, I think you'll agree, but one decidedly lacking in Chelsea goals considering how many strikers it boasts.
This motley bunch is, in fact, the last seven players to wear the number nine shirt for Chelsea. Crespo, Torres and Falcao scored freely elsewhere, but there has been little joy in recent years for those wearing the Chelsea 9.
The curse of the Chelsea number nine shirt stretches all the way back to the days of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who vacated the jersey in 2004.
However, in Alvaro Morata it looks like Antonio Conte might just have found an antidote to the problem.
Following the now departed Diego Costa was always going to be a big ask, but Morata's talent is unquestionable, and he is proving that doubts about his lack of Costa's 'nasty side' are unnecessary.
Given that he is Spanish, of slight build, schooled by Real Madrid from the age of 16 and technically gifted, questions have been unfairly asked as to whether Morata was suited to, or has the temperament for, the Premier League. A goalless performance against Arsenal prompted further worries that Chelsea would miss Costa's feisty approach, when in fact Morata and Shkodran Mustafi enjoyed a competitive battle in which the defender simply came out on top. Blaming Morata hardly seemed justified.
He had, of course, scored at Leicester the week before, and then followed up with a hat-trick at Stoke in the 4-0 win last Saturday.
He has a different approach to Costa: he doesn't bundle his way through challenges or go toe-to-toe (or head-to-head) with burly defenders, trying to rile them up. While he does play a key role in Chelsea's build-up play, when his eye turns to goal he floats quietly onto the shoulder of the last defender, and his movement from that position - generally between full-back and centre-back - makes him extremely difficult to track. Look at his first goal in Chelsea colours.
As Willian shapes to cross, Morata positions himself in front of Burnley right-back Matt Lowton, but behind James Tarkowski - where the central defender can't see him.
As the cross comes in, Morata darts forward into the space, gambling on the cross to pick him out. Morata glances Willian's inch-perfect cross into the net.
His second Chelsea goal was remarkably similar: another header from another cross from the right flank. This time it was against Everton, and this time it came from a cross from compatriot Cesar Azpilicueta.
Those two have struck up a surprising partnership in the short time they have been together: Azpilicueta has set up four Morata goals, which is twice as many as any other combination in the Premier League this season. Morata's third goal, scored against Leicester and again a header, came from another cross from the right, once again from the boot of Azpilicueta.
Then Azpilicueta provided two more assists last weekend, the first a long, straight ball to Morata who was hanging on the last line of the Stoke defence, and the second a chested pass for Morata to tap home from close range.
Presumably this won't be a feature of the whole season: the most lucrative assist-scorer combinations over the entirety of 2016/17 produced six goals (Christian Eriksen to Harry Kane and Gylfi Sigurdsson to Fernando Llorente finished joint-top), so Azpilicueta and Morata are well on their way to beating that.
But there is an understanding between the two players that transcends the language they share, with the defender well aware that direct balls into areas behind the opposition defence will get the most of his new team-mate.
It certainly helps that Morata has such lethal finishing. His six goals have come from just eight shots on target, while he has scored with all three of his headed attempts on target.
It is early days, but Morata's start to life in the Premier League has gone better than anyone truly could have expected. And then there was the crucial goal - another glanced header - he scored in Chelsea's stunning victory at Atletico Madrid this week.
Despite being a world-renowned striker, chased and admired by many of Europe's top clubs in recent times, Morata had never been given a real shot at holding down the position as the main centre-forward before his move to London.
In five full seasons at Real Madrid and Juventus, on only one occasion was Morata given 60 minutes of action in three consecutive league matches. That run of three games came at the beginning of last season at Real when the main man, Cristiano Ronaldo, was out injured. Ronaldo scored six minutes into his return and Morata didn't start consecutive league games again until May, when manager Zinedine Zidane was rotating his team to keep players fresh for the upcoming Champions League final.
The five games in a row that Morata has started at Chelsea is the longest run he has ever been given in his career, and look what has happened.
All he needed was a chance, and he is taking this one impressively.