A Blue Up North reviews Chelsea’s big win over bottom club Huddersfield Town.
This Saturday saw Chelsea return to Stamford Bridge to host bottom club Huddersfield Town in the Premier League. After being beaten for a 4th time away in this season’s Premier League, a fixture back at home, and against relatively weaker opponents was just what the club would have wished for.
The Terriers are midway through their second season up in England’s top flight, but after successfully surviving last season, they appear to be certainties for relegation this time.
After Chelsea’s humiliating result and second half performance away to Bournemouth during the week, all Blues fans were expecting a strong and committed reaction from both the players and the manager. With a run of extremely important and tough matches coming up, this match was their last opportunity to get themselves organised and ready mentally and tactically from their up coming fixtures.
Maurizio Sarri had a near complete squad of fit players to choose from, although Antonio Rudiger missed out due to a slight knock. This meant the passing abilities of both David Luiz and Andreas Christensen were let loose again.
Marcos Alonso returned at left back, while Ross Barkley played alongside N’Golo Kante in midfield, supported by Jorginho. New loan signing Gonzalo Higuain made his home Premier League debut and was flanked by Eden Hazard and Willian.
Newly appointed Huddersfield Town manager, Jan Siewert, took charge of his first away match for the club and was able to bolster his midfield with the return of Aaron Mooy and Philip Billing. However the biggest issue is their lack of goals. Having only netted 13 times in 24 Premier League matches. With only 2 league wins, they are surely focusing on how they can compete in The Championship next season.
The Terriers started brightly, trying to hustle and use their physicality against The Blues early on. But even during this period, there were flashes from the home side of what might get happen.
The front 3 showed far more movement and there was actually some purpose in some of Chelsea’s play. With through balls coming from deep, both Barkley and Kante were able to find small pockets of space close to the away side’s penalty area.
Just after 15 minutes, the Frenchman has the ball in one of these pockets and instantly made a reverse pass which fooled almost the entirety of everyone else. However, Higuain was alert and heading for a spot where was able to rifle in to the roof of the goal.
That simple but effective show of class not only seemed to galvanise the Argentinian, but also most of his teammates. While an inspired Christensen was alert enough to tackle or intercept everything the away side tried to create, The Blues started to take complete control over the match.
However, just as half time approached and thoughts were turning to the lack of Chelsea’s ability to close out games in which they are ahead and in the ascendancy, referee Paul Tierney awarded The Blues a penalty, despite the challenge on Cesar Azpilicueta being just outside the area. As Hazard stroked in the spot kick, a wave of relief washed over the team and the ground.
That second goal just before half time meant the second half was a very straight forward affair. With any pressure released from the team’s shoulders, Chelsea played with a fair amount of fluidity. Although the match was already won, the away side kept up their effort levels for as long as they could, but they started to look exhausted.
In these circumstances an almost telepathic understanding started to appear between Higuain and Hazard. As the latter ran with the ball, the former would come deep and be available to be in the middle of some beautiful 1-2’s. This became the main source for the home side’s chances and soon they were being converted.
Hazard slipped past Lossl in goal and slotted in from a narrow angle, before Higuain became the first Chelsea player to score a brace on their home debut since Mario Stanic v West Ham in August 2000. A Luiz header finished off the scoring in a match that was very comfortable for The Blues.
Whilst the victory was extremely welcome, it may not be a full indication that all of Chelsea’s recent woes are behind them. Their opponents hardly threatened and Hazard was able to mesmerise them fairly regularly.
With the level of opposition looming on the horizon, The Blues will need to keep up this level but also hope the teams they face are not in full flow. However with 8 days until they visit Manchester City, Sarri and his players should now focus on the positives and how they can utilise them against Pep Guardiola’s team.
Written by Jon Ellis, home and away season ticket holder. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
