Despite being reduced to ten men after Conor Gallagher’s sending off after 28 minutes, Chelsea were able to produce a resilient display and gain an important 3 points against Leicester City.
Kalidou Koulibaly was serving a one match ban after his sending off last week so Trevoh Chalobah came into the starting lineup to take his place. Conor Gallagher was tasked again with a deeper midfield role despite difficulties in a similar role against Leeds. It is not his best position and he did perform better in a role further up the pitch with Crystal Palace last season.
The team seemed to line up and start in a 4-2-2-2 formation. Chalobah started with Silva at centre back with James and Cucurella at right/left back. Loftus-Cheek went into midfield further upfield .
After the sending off, initially Loftus-Cheek dropped deeper. To become more solid defensively Cesar Azpilicueta came on for Mason Mount at half time and the formation reverted to a back three with Reece James at right wing back and Cucurella on the other side. This tweak seemed to improve the team performance.
Change at half time with Azpilicueta coming on sees Chelsea revert to 3 at the back with Cucurella and James as wing backs via Chelsea TV
Raheem Sterling opened his Chelsea account with a slightly fortuitous goal which took a deflection off Daniel Amartey. He then scored a second from close range after a cross from Reece James, who had another great game.
Sterling scored 2 goals with 2/3 shots on target with one hitting the post
(graphic from fotmob app)
Reece James full stats- 52/57 passes completed (91 % accuracy), 2 chances created, 1 assist, 2/2 successful dribbles 6/7 accurate long balls, 2/4 accurate crosses, 1 tackle, 1 block, 1 interception, 1 clearance ,7 ball recoveries, 4/5 ground duels won 2/4 aerial duels won.
Thiago Silva was solid once again defensively as he won the most tackles (4/5) and duels (10/11).
Leicester City did get a goal back through Harvey Barnes. Chelsea held on though for an important win despite being under heavy pressure towards the end of the game.
It is a bit difficult to analyse this game as you have to take into context Chelsea were playing with one less player for more than two thirds of the game. This means that you would expect the team to be not as dominant in terms of possession and attacking statistics as proved to be the case.
Chelsea had slightly less possession (45 %), less accurate passes ( 456 v 372), less shots (7 v 17) and less big chances (3 v 4). It was important to take those chances when they did come. Leicester missed all 4 of their big chances.
The team were fortunate that those chances were not taken. Edouard Mendy would have been disappointed to be beaten at his near post but he did make some crucial saves at important moments during the game.
Thomas Tuchel was in the stands and not the touchline after his one game ban and praised his side after a hard fought win.
“ I was in the stadium, and I felt the atmosphere. It is unusual and we do not need to do it again. I couldn’t have influence directly from the sidelines but I am happy we got the win.”
He also praised goalscorer Raheem Sterling.
“It was necessary because we need him to score. It’s what he does and he will score. I could feel he was not happy because he wants to score more and have more chances.
We played today in a more aggressive shape but then we were one man down so we needed him to step up, which he did. The goals were crucial today because they gave us the belief.”
On Gallagher and the sending off.
“Today he is responsible for what he did and he knows it was a huge mistake. We spoke briefly after the game and things like this happen. It’s not purely his fault alone because it was a set-piece for us and it’s sloppy how we take set-pieces at the moment.”
It was an important win and there are two more games coming up this week against Southampton away and West Ham at home.
Video from Raheem Sterling’s instagram after the game
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