EPL 2016/17: Five players who have successfully transitioned to a new position

#4 Cesar Azpilicueta

Azpilicueta has gone about his job with minimum fuss

The reinvention of Moses has been so successful precisely because of Azpilicueta's presence to cover him. Deployed as the right-sided centre-back in the 3-4-3 setup, this is Azpilicueta's second positional reinvention at Chelsea. Naturally a right-back, he was preferred as a makeshift left-back over the considerable talents of Felipe Luis by Jose Mourinho.

"Azpilicueta is the kind of player I like a lot. I think a team with 11 Azpilicuetas probably could win the Champions League because football is not just about the pure talent. Football is also about character and personality and Azpilicueta has all those traces of a winning personality," Jose Mourinho had said in February 2014.

They don't have 11 of him – but one Azpilicueta seems well on course to helping Chelsea win the Premier League. With Chelsea's failure to sign Kalidou Koulibaly or Leonardo Bonucci in the summer, Azpilicueta has ensured missing out on them didn't matter.

His performances as an auxiliary centre-back have been mature, composed and dominating – you wouldn't really know it isn't his natural position if you are watching him for the first time.