The Chelsea of Frank Lampard have a very good attack and they invested big on that this season. It was proved worthy enough quickly when Timo Werner showed his class in a Blue shirt.
Chelsea 3 Southampton 3. Southampton have hit the headlines courtesy of a fragile and lackluster Chelsea backline. Chelsea give you spaces to exploit and their defenders commit mistakes to invite trouble. Another mad max game of football. I guess more to come. pic.twitter.com/GBkb6EjdJq
— Faisal Caesar (@faisalyorker1) October 17, 2020
Chelsea were two goals up after 28 minutes as Werner raced onto Jorginho’s pass, held off Bednarek, and flicked the ball coolly over McCarthy before heading in. Before that, there was a brilliant display of individual brilliance which essayed his first ever goal for Chelsea.
Southampton had kept opponents down to an average of 7.25 efforts on goal in their opening four games of the Premier League season, but by half-time here they had faced nine attempts.
Werner, who had 11 efforts without reward in his first four league outings for Chelsea, finally got lucky with attempt number 13!
The pace of Werner has always been talked about so much that his skill was overshadowed. Today, he showed how deadly he could be when the pace is mixed with skill.
15'—Werner
28'—Werner
43'—Ings
57'—Adams
59'—Havertz
90+2'—VestergaardChelsea 3-3 Southampton ? pic.twitter.com/bgKVzotPZY
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 17, 2020
Jorginho controlled from the center of the park as the Chelsea forward pressed forward, but if the backline remains full of loopholes, the forwards can’t do enough.
Danny Ings ran through a sloppy defence to haul Southampton back into contention in the 43rd minute, and a Chelsea calamity came early in the second half – Kepa Arrizabalagapulled out of a challenge to meet an under-hit back-pass from Kurt Zouma, and that allowed Adams to win the ball and thrash in from close range.
Havertz turned in a short pass from Werner to nudge Chelsea 3-2 in front two minutes later and it seemed, the Blues would end the evening bagging full points.
But the backline cost the Blues badly.
A Southampton free-kick was only half-cleared and Theo Walcott – a teenage star at Saint Mary’s who has returned on loan from Everton – lashed a strike towards the Chelsea goal, with Vestergaard applying the decisive touch.
Theo Walcott created five chances against Chelsea, more than any other player on the pitch.
And a stoppage-time assist to mark a dream PL debut for his boyhood club. ? pic.twitter.com/HTupe9cPPK
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 17, 2020
Kepa has now conceded five from the last 7 shots on target he has faced in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Chelsea have made five individual errors leading to goals in this season’s Premier League, at least two more than any other team. They’ve even surpassed their tally from the whole of last season (3) after just five games!
Chelsea have conceded three goals in a Premier League home game under Frank Lampard for the first time.
The Blues have been suffering for the lack of solidity at the back. Al their hard work is wasted either due to goalkeeping error or defensive sloppiness.
Until and unless the defence is fixed, the Blues won’t be able to dream big!
