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It is often said that there are no easy games in the Premier League, and Wednesday’s game at Vicarage Road against mid-table Watford was the latest proof.
Despite Chelsea’s possession, chances, and attacking intent, we still needed a Boxing Day gift from Abdoulaye Doucouré to open the scoring, and, after gifting a goal back with some lax set piece defending, a bit of Christmas magic from Jorginho and Eden Hazard proved the only difference.
Willian, who hit the post once, possibly twice, reflected afterwards on Chelsea’s luck, or lack thereof, in the important 2-1 victory.
“It was very difficult. In the Premier League there are no easy games, every match is tough to play, but we got the three points and we played very well. We had a lot of possession and we created a lot of chances but the Premier League is like this, until the end you have to fight, and now we have to continue.”
“I think I was unlucky in the first half when I went one against one with the keeper and hit the post. We had control of the game, we scored to make it 1-0 but then we conceded a goal. We went out for the second half with the same mentality, scored a goal and tried to create some chances.
“We were unlucky again, I hit the post twice, but like I said we have to continue in the same way now, we cannot go up and down anymore.”
-Willian; Source: Chelsea FC
It might be a bit disingenuous to blame luck to this extent — Watford’s Deulofeu was a constant threat, for example — but Willian must be getting desperately tired of hitting the post. After famously collecting a hat-trick of them against Barcelona over two match last season, he’s now risen to second in the Premier League with 4 strikes of the woodwork. And to make matter worse for Chelsea, who’ve hit the post a league-leading 13 times, the only player with more is none other than Marcos Alonso!
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We may be having some bad luck, but as Willian reminds us, consistency is key.
The focus now is on Crystal Palace, away on Sunday, a very tricky team, as shown by our matches against them in the last few seasons and their stunning win over Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad last weekend.
Let’s make it two wins in a row and the start of a long winning streak, shall we?