Chelsea took on Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge as the Premier League made its much anticipated return to our collective screens. With Romelu Lukuku not signed in time to play a part in this game, perhaps there was some concern amongst fans that Chelsea’s problems up front would rear its ugly head once more. However, the Champions of Europe came out of the blocks strongly and never afforded their opponents a sniff at goal. Here are the lessons learnt from Chelsea 3, Crystal Palace 0 in what ultimately turned out to be a routine win at SW6.
1. Trevoh Chalobah is the real deal
It is evident from how overwhelmed the young Englishman looked when he smashed in Chelsea’s third goal of the day what it means for him to play for this club. It was a moment of individual brilliance but more importantly, it was representative of the youngster’s willingness to take a chance when the opportunity presented itself.
In the context of the goal, the academy graduate could have easily chosen to lay the ball out wide to Cesar Azpilicueta. Instead, he took ownership of the situation, took a confident touch to set himself up for the shot before unleashing the powerful, driven finish into the bottom left hand corner.
Additionally, the 22-year-old was also strong when called upon to perform his defensive duties, doing his due diligence in helping Chelsea keep a clean sheet against Palace. Chalobah was also equally comfortable with playing the ball out from the back. This was evident with the relative ease in which he was consistently able to pick out Cesar Azpilicueta playing further up the pitch in a wing-back role to cap off a wonderful all-round performance.
The level at which Chalobah was operating at in this game and the previous match against Villareal is mightily impressive considering the kind of pressure he must have been under. The youngster exuded confidence in everything he did and it is this that had set him apart during pre-season and could yet propel him into becoming a first team regular under Thomas Tuchel. In a summer where the club has had intentions to bring in another centre-back in the form of Jules Kounde, perhaps a cheaper alternative has already presented itself to both the manager and the board.