Chelsea
defeated Leicester to maintain their 100% winning record this season. While
this match’s buildup was catalyzed by the return of Didier Drogba, it is the
new boys Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa who will dominate the headlines after. Against a
very tough Leicester side who proved to be a hard-nut to crack amid squandering
some decent opportunities, Chelsea shown why most of the pundits are ranking
them to be crowned as Champions next May.
#454008072 / gettyimages.com
Here are the 5 talking points from this match:-
Diego Costa is IN
Having
scored two goals in 4 minutes in pre-season followed by one against Burnley at his
Chelsea debut, another goal in this match seen an impressive applause from
Roman Ibrahimovich. While the Spaniard had only played 2 official games for Chelsea,
he seemed to have the confidence Fernando Torres couldn’t generate in 2 seasons. While
he was a bit off the color in the first half spoiling chances, it seemed he knew
he would get the goal as his celebration suggested. So surely the striker
problem is solved as far as Chelsea are concerned.
Oscar the new main-man
Last
season it was Eden Hazard and Oscar who kept Chelsea abroad even when their strikers
were not firing. However in this match, it was the Brazilian who provided a
sublime performance whereas it was an off-day for Hazard by his standards apart
from the goal he has scored. From his pass to Branislav Ivanovic that eventually created
the goal, to his simple but pin-point pass to Cesc Fabregas to free him one-on-one
against the keeper, Oscar is my man of the match for Chelsea against a very
tough Leicester. Hazard also had a very good match but in batches, however it
was Oscar who proved to be the continuous chance generating machine for
Chelsea.
Chelsea are fluid
While
no one can under-mine the defense Chelsea has now, it looks like the Parked Bus
taunts are far away. With a brigade of world class midfielders in their ranks,
it seems Mourinho has shifted his Chelsea into next gear last season, Chelsea
were the better defensive team here however, they did provided some one-on-one
chances to Nugent who failed to capitalize. SO unlike last season, there were
some gaps in between the Chelsea defense which Mourinho certainly looks to
perish in his next game. While Chelsea created an array of chances last season,
unlike last season however, they given the opposition some very serious
opportunities. So yes they are fluid, but they need to be solid at the back.
Courtois is in
They
talk about when you hit the ground, hit it running however in the case of
Courtois, he hit the ground like a solid wall that allowed no-body to go off
him. While his base in the Chelsea camp isn’t very solid yet with Petr Cech
looming if or when anything goes wrong with the Belgian defensive antics, he
proved why the talent spotter in Jose Mourinho put faith in him as the Chelsea
number one. If you look at both of the saves he’s made today one-on-one against
the same man, the Spanish golden glove winner might prove to be a standstill in
Chelsea goal during the next 10 months. And keeping in mind the number of saves
he had to made to keep his clean sheet board immaculate, it was a brilliant
performance from the Belgian
Legend Drogba is back
It
seemed like we had rolled back the years when a certain Drogba was making
his debut for the Blues in 2004-05 season where he was talked upon more due to
the money being spent for him, it was exactly the opposite as Chelsea fans
greeted arguably the best Chelsea player of the last decade. Every pass of his
was cheered by a huge roar by the fans and certainly Drogba has come home.
No comments