A Blue Up North reviews Chelsea’s comfortable victory over PAOK Salonika in the Europa League.
This Thursday evening Chelsea played host to PAOK Salonika from Greece in this season’s UEFA Europa League group stages. After 4 straight victories in the opening 4 matches, The Blues only required 1 point to clinch the top spot and a seeding place for the knockout phase.
After Maurizio Sarri’s 18-match unbeaten run as Chelsea’s new manager had come to an abrupt halt with a humiliating defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur, what The Blues really needed was a resounding display and result. This proved to be the perfect tonic.
With an upcoming spell of 2 matches every week, Sarri was happy to change all 10 outfield players from the starting XI who played at Wembley on Saturday. This provided a chance for several fringe players to stake a claim for more first team game time especially after such a lacklustre showing at Spurs.
After a promisingly bright opening few minutes, Chelsea’s task was made even easier when PAOK’s centre back Khacheridi clumsily attempted to retrieve a loose pass and illegally blocked Olivier Giroud’s route to goal and was given his marching orders. That was with only 7 minutes on the clock and the Greek league leaders did not register a single attempt on target all match.
A commanding, strong performance from almost the entire team saw The Blues coast to a very comfortable victory. Olivier Giroud may lack the pace that Sarri requires from his striker, but the Frenchman’s play and especially his finishing will have given his manager food for thought.
Both Cesc Fabregas and Ross Barkley were in fine form. The former’s vision and passing skills were on full show, while the latter was involved all over the pitch. Andreas Christensen was commanding in defence, while Davide Zappacosta and Emerson Palmieri regularly pressed forward and caused problems for the makeshift away defence with their running and crosses.
But it was the 2 youngsters who really caught the eye. Ruben Loftus-Cheek not only utilised his strength and power as he drove The Blues forward, but he was inventive as well with his forward play and did everything except score a goal. Callum Hudson-Odoi was given only his second start but he did not disappoint. He was bright and full of running. A player who clearly loves to get the crowd excited and who thrives on their roar as he takes his marker on. But the icing on the cake was when the 18 year old scored his first goal for the Chelsea first team. His rifled shot that fizzed inside the near post brought probably the biggest cheer of the night.
Although few of these players will be called into the starting line up against Fulham on Sunday, they have clearly made a big claim to be far more involved, especially with so many matches coming up in the next few weeks.
Yes there is a home tie against Bournemouth in the league cup and a trip to Hungary to play MOL Vidi in their final Europa League group match in which most of this side will start, but quite a few can now look forward to more regular involvement in the Premier League fixtures.
And got the supporters, a powerful victory was clearly the perfect tonic in their need to recover from last Saturday’s showing. Let’s hope for another dose on Sunday.
Written by Jon Ellis, home and away season ticket holder. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
