Kenedy

Kenedy keeps Chelsea moving in the right direction!

Chelsea's young Brazilian, Kenedy, scored the first Premier League goal of his career as Chelsea extended their unbeaten Premier League run to 12 matches, with a 2-1 win against Norwich City. It took the Brazilian just 39 seconds to score his goal. Kenedy collected the ball from Eden Hazard and ran at the Norwich defence, he then hit a shot from the edge of the penalty area that beat the goalkeeper and found the bottom corner of the net. It was a great start for Chelsea and they extended their lead at the end of the first half when Diego Costa scored his 11th league goal of the season. Another of Chelsea's young players, Bertrand Traore, played the ball to Costa who scored easily, but the goal should have been disallowed for offside. Norwich played better in the second half and scored a consolation goal, but Chelsea took the three points and are still unbeaten under their interim manager, Guus Hiddink. 

"We had a splendid start through Kenedy, who scored a beautiful goal." Guus Hiddink, Chelsea's interim manager.

It only takes a second to score a goal!

'It only takes a second to score a goal' is a football cliche often used by football managers and commentators but it usually takes a little bit longer than that! Kenedy's goal against Chelsea was the fastest in the Premier League this season and was timed at 39 seconds. There have been two other Premier League goals scored in the first minute this season. They were:

• Matt Richie scored after just 49 seconds for Bournemouth against Tottenham. The early goal didn't help Bournemouth because the match finished 5-1 to Spurs with Harry Kane scoring a hat-trick.
• The other goal scored in less than a minute this season was scored by Enner Valencia for West Ham against Manchester City. The Ecuadorian striker scored after just 53 seconds. The match finished 2-2 with Valencia getting a second but a Sergio Aguero double rescuing City.

Kenedy's goal was fast and the fastest this season but there have been lots of Premier League goals scored in quicker times. Take a look at the fastest Premier League goals of all time:

• Tottenham's Ledley King is the record-holder for the fastest ever Premier League goal which he scored in 2000. The Spurs midfielder hit a speculative shot from 40 metres which found the back of the net. The goal was timed at just 9.9 seconds!
• Alan Shearer, the Premier League's all-time top scorer, scored his fastest ever goal for Newcastle against Manchester City in 2003. It took him just 10.4 seconds!
• Leeds Utd scored after just 11.1 seconds against Charlton Athletic back in 2001. The goalkeeper hit the ball up field, it was flicked on and the Australian, Mark Viduka scored the goal.

What do we know about Kenedy?

Robert Kenedy Nunes do Nascimento was born in February 1996, and is from Santa Rita do Sapucaí, which is a small town in the south of Brazil. He played for his hometown team before moving to Rio De Janeiro and playing for youth teams at Vasco da Gama and Atletico Mineiro. Kenedy's first professional club was Fluminense in Brazil, one of the biggest clubs in Brazilian football. Fluminense play their home matches in the iconic Maracana Stadium, which held the World Cup Finals in 2014 and 1950. The stadium holds the record for the biggest ever attendance at a football match (199,854), although it is believed that over 210,000 people were at the 1950 World Cup Final. Kenedy played 40 times for Fluminense before moving to London to play for Chelsea at the beginning of the 2015/16 season.

"I’m very excited and delighted to be part of one of the biggest clubs in European football"  Kenedy.

Is Kenedy named after someone?

Kenedy is not a common Brazilian name and was chosen by his mum. He says that his mum was a fan of John F. Kennedy, who was the American President from 1961 until his assassination in 1963 so he was named after him. The Robert part of his name was chosen by his older sister and named after a former Corinthians player, who she enjoyed watching. It's not common for footballers to be named after famous people but there have been plenty of things named after famous people in football. Take a look at these:

• Park Ji Sung Road - The former Manchester Utd midfielder Park Ji Sung has a road named after him in Suwon in his native South Korea.
• The Matt Le Tissier Aircraft - The Southampton legend had an aeroplane named after him in his honour after he retired.
• Emmanuel Eminike Street -  The Nigerian striker, who has recently moved to West Ham Utd on loan has a street named after him in Lagos after spending many millions of pounds on property in the area.
• Steven Gerrard Tower - The former Liverpool captain has an apartment block named after him in Dubai.
• George Best Belfast City Airport - The airport, which handles over 2.5 million passengers each year, was named after the Manchester Utd legend in 2006, after his death.

Did you know......?

• Kenedy is not the latest Brazilian to join Chelsea. Alexandre Pato joined the club in January. 
• Kenedy's goal was fast but Chelsea's fastest ever goal was scored by Keith Waller in 1970 against Middlesborough.
• Chelsea's 12 match unbeaten run is the longest of any club in the Premier League this season.
• The worst finishing position by current Premier League Champions was 11th, which is where Blackburn Rovers finished in 1993/94.
• Chelsea manager, Guus Hiddink, has had two spells as interim manager and lost only twice in 37 matches.