Chelsea FC welcomed Everton to Stamford Bridge in a mid week fixture. Chelsea have a firm grip on the title race where they find themselves 7 points ahead of Manchester City who faced a tricky encounter away at Stoke City. Chelsea couldn’t afford to give City any chance of closing the gap on them so this was again a must win fixture for them at the Bridge.
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Chelsea started with a similar 4-2-3-1 formation with Willian in the number 10 role as Oscar carried a mild injury as per reports. Petr Cech started at goal and new January signing Cuadrado was given his first Chelsea start on the right wing with Remy leading the line after Drogba’s disappointing showing against Aston Villa. Zouma was back in the lineup alongside Terry while the again fir Fabregas made the bench as Mourinho is likely being cautious with him ahead of the crunch tie with PSG in the Champions League in a week’s time.
Chelsea started the game in a similar formidable fashion as they have done all season at the Bridge. Everton sat back soaking up all the pressure. The ball was kept well by Chelsea but they were forced towards the wide areas by a well trained Everton defense which was consolidated by a returning Stones and Jagielka partnership at the heart. Remy had terrific chance to put Chelsea in front where he out jumped Stones and headed the ball from a Azpilicueta cross only to be deflected by the strong hand of Tim Howard.
Everton welcomed back Ross Barkley at the heart of their midfield, and he found some good spaces to exploit the Chelsea defense on the counter. But such counter attacking moves were limited from Everton as Chelsea were brilliant in winning the ball back whenever they lost it. The battle between former Chelsea striker Lukaku and Zouma was a treat to watch as both physical and broad shouldered boys had a go a each other all game.
Although Chelsea had more of the ball, they weren’t being able to penetrate the Everton backline as much as they would have wanted. In such situations, you really feel the absence of the Fabregas and Costa partnership which gives the whole team a lethal edge. The first half ended in a draw, which resulted in some skepticism in the crowd as Man City had the upper hand in the Britannia Stadium.
The second half started in a similar fashion with Chelsea again having more of the possession but nothing to show for it. But Everton started to influence the game a bit more than they did in the first half. One of the best moments of the game came when Lukaku took a shot from a Oviedo cross, only to be miraculously saved by the brilliant reflexes of Petr Cech, who again proves that he is no step over.
The game went on with similar fashion with more Chelsea shots and more possession, but with Everton giving no space in their penalty area, Remy did not find any gaps which he could exploit. When the game reached 70 mins, there was a certain urgency in the Chelsea side and they decided to bring in Drogba and Fabregas for a more direct approach.
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The game experienced a sudden turn when Gareth Barry received a second yellow card for a foul on Willian which got the whole Chelsea team going for a final all out attack. Fabregas delivered a long ball inside the Everton penalty area which was punched out by Howard only to be received by Willian at the edge of the box. Willian took a shot which was not that strong, but with a slight deflection of the foot of Naismith, beat Howard at his near post.
It looked like we were destined to drop two points and hand an incentive to City, but a mark of a winning team is to grind out results even when the whole team isn’t playing upto the mark. With this result, we can now look forward to PSG with relative ease and not having to look over our shoulders. Paris, here we come!
KEY PLAYERS AND GRADES:
1. Willian: A-
Willian is starting to make a heavy impact upon games nowadays. His workmanship, according to me is the best among all the attackers. All he needs is a bit of number of assists and goals to his name, and this is exactly what he is achieving at the moment. His all over performance was brilliant.
2. Matic: A
We saw Matic at his best once again with his immaculate positioning and precise tackling. His overall distribution and the spreading of the play when attacking was a beauty to watch. He showed his immense strength when holding the ball and making good passes from tight situations. He is indeed one of the best CDMs in the game now.
3. Hazard: B+
I won’t say it was a quiet evening for Hazard. I think he never has a quiet one. But he influences a game so much that we have come to expect the same from him at all times. He was all over the pitch linking up play and making runs. But a rather moderate performance as compared to his regular high standards.
4. Cuadrado: B+
Cuadrado showed flashes of brilliance in the game with his pace and trickery. He is exactly what we expected from him. He is direct, and also has a burst of pace over a short distance which I really like. He blended with the attacking trio behind the striker in a smooth fashion. Good days to come for the lad.