Chelsea’s top four hopes took two massive steps back in a frustrating March. They are now hanging on for dear life. This is the State of the Blue-nion.
Following a string of impressive results, the Blues found themselves back in the thick of things for a Champions League spot heading into March. With three Premier League matches against rather underwhelming opposition, things looked to finally be going Chelsea’s way. However, wins haven’t come easy to the Blues this season. Chelsea needed a bit of luck and good fortune to capture even a single point in March.
After last month, it’s looking like Chelsea will need to take the road less travelled if they want to see Champions League football next season. Although they are not down and out in the top four race, winning the Europa League seems much easier at this point.
1. Match of the Month: Chelsea 5 – 0 Dynamo Kyiv (8-0 agg)
While not the most important result over the last month, Chelsea’s thrashing of Dynamo Kyiv displayed the easiest path into next season’s Champions League. Despite a 3-0 advantage heading into the second leg, the Blues didn’t let up. This match had something seldom seen this season: hunger.
Led by the clinical finishing of Olivier Giroud and the youthful pace of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the Blues dominated Kyiv. The result was surprising, as Chelsea fans haven’t been treated to massive wins much this season, but the dominance was shocking. Overall, the fatal blow given to Kyiv was Chelsea’s most complete performance of the season.
While nobody around Stamford Bridge will complain about an 8-0 aggregate victory to advance to the Europa League quarterfinals, there were some negative takeaways from the match. The first is the realization that, even though Maurizio Sarri seemingly begged for Gonzalo Higuain at Chelsea, he still may be worse than Olivier Giroud.
Giroud’s hat-trick on the night took him atop the Europa League scoring table as he put on a finishing clinic. The performance had Chelsea fans scratching their heads and wondering why Giroud has not had more time on the pitch, especially considering Higuain’s useless start to life in London.
The most frustrating takeaway from a 5-0 win was knowing some of the players vital to the blowout still wouldn’t take the pitch in the Premier League. Sarri dangled goodies in front of a hamster on a wheel. He used the team selection to taunt Chelsea fans, only to resort to the same stagnant XI when it matters most.
This match once again validated the fans’ claims that Hudson-Odoi, Andreas Christensen and Loftus-Cheek do belong in the XI. But what does Sarri care?
This was a massive result in the run of things. The Blues confirmed they should be seen as the favorites in the Europa League, even if this game didn’t motivate the Blues to continue a string of solid results. Regardless, a dominant performance over two legs sees Chelsea through to the next round. In a month of frustrating results, this was the most important.