Last week’s sanctions imposed by the UK government triggered a crisis situation at Chelsea Football Club. Petr Cech has admitted the club is being operated “day-to-day” as the search for new owners continues. Such off-field turbulence is bound to reflect somewhere on the field, and it did for large parts of Sunday’s encounter against Newcastle United.
If Thursday’s 3-1 win at Norwich was comfortable, yesterday’s 1-0 win was anything but. Newcastle, who last suffered defeat in the league in December, defended doggedly and didn’t allow any spaces for Chelsea’s front men to work with. The hosts also had to make do with Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr as full-backs in a back four, and that certainly hampered their creativity.
There was hardly any goal-mouth action throughout the game. Both Kai Havertz and Chalobah were perhaps lucky with a couple of VAR decisions. The German’s elbow charge was deemed worthy of only a yellow, while Chalobah looked certain to have given away a penalty. But the Blues survived those decisions and registered their first effort on target in the 76th minute.
Hakim Ziyech’s cross matched Havertz’s run, but the latter couldn’t guide his header either side of Martin Dubravka. The match was coming to its uneventful conclusion before Havertz produced a moment of magic. He was expertly picked out by Jorginho inside the box and after a silky smooth first touch, slotted it past Dubravka. That one moment was not in keeping with how the match had unfolded but was enough to get the three points for Chelsea as they continued their push for third.
Havertz sparkles, Timo Werner looks jaded
It’s not easy to bench your 100 million striker every week. But Havertz is more than justifying his selection ahead of Romelu Lukaku. He has now scored four goals in his last three Premier League appearances, the kind of numbers Lukaku might be proud of. Yesterday’s goal was as important as it was beautiful. His inclusion also bodes well for his teammates, so if this continues, Thomas Tuchel may have found an answer to Chelsea’s attacking woes.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Timo Werner. The German is seemingly retracting into a shell every week and it shows in his performances. He doesn’t make any of those runs like before, meaning he is as ineffective without the ball as he is with it. On a rare occasion when he timed a run, his awful first touch took the chance away from him. Tuchel was brought in with the intention of resurrecting the two Germans, however, the two Germans that have been resurrected are Havertz and Antonio Rudiger.
Defensive solidity is reappearing
Chelsea had endured an unimaginable run of one cleansheet in 11 games between November and January. It’s no surprise then that they dropped from first to third in that period, sixteen points behind Man City. But since then, the trademark defensive discipline that had become so characteristic of Tuchel’s Chelsea has resurfaced.
In the last five games, Chelsea have kept four cleansheets, conceding just one goal (a penalty). It’s no surprise then, that the Blues have won all five of those games. Chelsea win when they don’t concede – it’s a simple formula and they need it to work for the rest of the season, with Arsenal in particular gathering momentum.