By Gary Watton
March 4 2018
As expected, champions-elect Manchester City gave outgoing champions Chelsea the runaround, as the latter were treated to a footballing lesson. It's doubtful whether the slow learners of Chelsea Football Club will learn much from this ritual defeat. They certainly need to find a way of playing against teams that press our defenders. Reciprocating by pressing opposing defenders would be a start. Unfortunately Chelsea are firmly en route for next season's Europa League courtesy of a nonsense ploy of persisting with Hazard, Pedro, and Willian as the front three. Regrettably playing Hazard as a centre forward is as sensible as playing Charlie Cooke or Pat Nevin as the centre forward.
The statistics remain damning for Chelsea in this car crash season. The Blues are five points shy of Tottenham Hotspur in fourth position. While ex-Chelsea players Salah and Lukaku have thirty-two and twenty-two goals this season, Alvaro Morata has a measly twelve. Yet again the team rarely looked like scoring. Our best chance fell to ineffective Victor Moses who shanked his close range effort. Chelsea need to learn that in matches against Barcelona and the terrible twins of Manchester, accurate goal attempts are a must. Hitting the woodwork and fluffing the occasional chance simply won't do.
It will be fascinating to see whether this awful team can recover quickly from their nul points from their two abortive visits to Manchester.
Manchester City 1 CHELSEA 0; half time: 0-0
CHELSEA: Courtois; Christensen; Rudiger; Azpilicueta; Drinkwater; Alonso; Fabregas; Moses; Pedro; Willian; Hazard. Used substitutes: Giroud; Emerson; Morata
CHELSEA leading scorers:
Hazard fifteen
Morata twelve
Willian twelve
Batshuayi ten
Alonso seven
Pedro five
Bakayoko three
Rudiger three
View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.