Antonio Conte's title winners are unbeaten since their opening day of the season 3-2 defeat at home to Burnley.Chelsea beat Stoke City 4-0 on Saturday and lie 3rd in the table behind Manchester City and Manchester United.Club record signing Alvaro Morata has been the man in the headlines since joining from Real Madrid in July.The 24-year-old striker netted a hat-trick in Saturday's 4-0 victory and has notched six goals in his first six Premier League outings.Morata missed a penalty in the shoot-out defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield but has since proven himself to be an elite Premier League striker.The former Real Madrid and Juventus striker may be taking all the plaudits but Chelsea fans have been lavishing praise on one of their lesser-known players.

Chelsea's new star defender

Andreas Christensen, 21, joined the club from Brondby in 2012 on a free transfer and made his debut as a teenager in 2014.

The Danish central defender impressed on a two-year loan spell at Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach, returning to Stamford Bridge over the summer.

Despite the wealth of defensive options at his disposal, Conte has handed the youngster plenty of opportunities in the first team during the early stages of the campaign.

Christensen has featured in five of Chelsea's opening six Premier League outings and excelled at the back in David Luiz's absence on Saturday afternoon.

Luiz is serving a three-game ban for a horrible challenge on Arsenal full-back Sead Kolasinac.

Christensen filled the void brilliantly against Stoke and is already being labelled by some Chelsea fans as the "next John Terry".

Composed on the ball, the statistics also emphasise Christensen's super start at Chelsea under Conte.

The Italian coach last week backed Christensen to perform in the middle of the back three following the three-game suspension handed to Luiz.

"Christensen is a very young player," said Conte. "But I think he is a good player and I trust him. Now he has the possibility to play and now he has to prepare very well to play."