After Liverpool took three points of of Manchester City earlier today, Chelsea were in good position to jump right back into the thick of the title race by defeating Swansea City. They got an early boost in pursuit of that victory on Sunday, when Phil Dowd decided to send Chico Flores off just 16 minutes into the game.
After fluffing chance after chance to go ahead of our ten-man foes, Demba Ba finally put the Blues ahead midway through the second half. That proved to be enough to seal the away victory, keeping Chelsea within two points of the top.
Thoughts:
- I'm still not sure what to think of that sending off just 16 minutes into the game. Both Flores fouls were probably worth yellow cards on their own, but it's unbelievably rare to see a referee issue yellows for two challenges like that so early in the game. We were owed a softie after the Willian incident against Aston Villa though, so I'm not going to complain.
- Once we had the man advantage, the need for both Ramires and Nemanja Matic to control the midfield disappeared. I liked the move to take Ramires off in place of another target in the box at halftime.
- If Chelsea could finish chances even half as well as Liverpool and Manchester City, we'd be 15 points clear of both atop the Premier League table right now. Anyone who isn't bound for Brazil this summer should spend a few weeks doing nothing but firing shots on goal.
- Reread the above bullet point. Now, reread it again. I can't stress this one enough, our finishing is terrible.
- I don't think there's a team in Europe that's more useless from throws than Chelsea.
- I love the willingness of Mohamed Salah to turn and fire on net when he has a little space. Good things happen when you take lots of shots from inside the 18-yard box. Now put them on target more often, m'kay?