Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has praised teammate Kenedy after he scored the fastest goal of the Premier League this season.

The 20-year-old opened the scoring with just 39 seconds on the clock in the Blues' win at Norwich City yesterday as they continued their unbeaten league run under interim manager Guus Hiddink.

"It was unbelievable," Cahill told the club's official website. "We wanted to start fast and we couldn't have started any faster than that. It was a great individual goal, out of nothing really."

Kenedy was part of a matchday squad that also included youngsters Bertrand Traore and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, all of whom earned their places on merit, according to Cahill.

"The manager has shown faith in the young players," he added. "Kenedy produced a fantastic piece of individual brilliance for the first goal. Traore came in and did well and Ruben's got a new contract. I've spoken highly of Ruben since he first started training with us, I think he's going to be a big player so it's great news.

"Kenedy and Traore are so tricky and so sharp with the way they like to manipulate the ball and turn. They make it difficult for defenders to defend. They're obviously good enough to be involved and good enough to play. It's hard but they've proven themselves and Traore's scored a few good goals for us."

The victory took the Blues up into the top half of the Premier League for the first time this season ahead of tonight's round of fixtures.