He saw Chalobah stepping up aggressively, overcommitting to try and win the ball. He saw Chilwell narrow from left-back to cover the central area, marking space rather than a specific player. He saw Højlund making a diagonal run from right to left, cutting across Chalobah's blindside where the defender couldn't see him while focused on the ball.
A gap existed in Chelsea's defensive shape—three yards of space between Chalobah who was pressing and the covering defender who was too far away to help. That was the pass, that was the moment, that was where the assist lived if his execution matched his vision.
Demien shaped his body as if he was going to pass right to Malinovskiy, leaning that direction while his shoulders turned to sell the fake completely.
Chalobah shifted his weight to follow the dummy, his body moving right to try and block the passing lane he thought was coming.
