Cardiff City 1-2 Chelsea, Premier League: Post-match reaction

A well-drilled Cardiff team decided to a page from Wolverhampton’s book, containing Chelsea to blocked shots and long-ranged attempts at their goal. They did at times apply pressure high up the pitch, but Chelsea calmly played their way out of it in most occasions.

And so, the first half was a borefest. The first shot on target came from Cardiff’s end at the 31st minute, and the match was just deadlocked on both ends of the pitch. The hosts were tough on and off the ball, and that along with Eden Hazard’s absence made it quite difficult for Chelsea to make any breakthroughs. A free kick from Willian that veered a bit too wide was the best chance we had all first half.

Hopes were that in second half we would see some sort of improvement. Yet we saw the exact opposite. Victor Camarasa, who had spent most of his time on pitch marking Jorginho out of the game, scores on a very good finish to open the score for the hosts only one minute into the second part of the game.

The substitutes, Hazard, RLC and Giroud, brought much needed potency to our attack. Their efforts eventually bore fruit, first with César Azpilicueta — who was outrageously offside in his shot at goal — and Loftus-Cheek to follow in the closing minutes of the match.

Carefree!

• Some “surprising” choices by Maurizio Sarri today, who decides to stick to his principles and not give Callum Hudson-Odoi his first Premier League start ever, despite his great debut for England’s national team during the international break. Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kanté are also rested.
• Zero shots on target for Chelsea in the first half. Cardiff have one. And the hosts score in their second attempt shortly after half-time.
• And then Chelsea completely turn it around in the last minutes of second half. Wooooo!
• Eden Hazard enters the game quite early considering previous substitution times by Sarri, in place of Pedro. The other subs were Ruben Loftus-Cheek in for Jorginho, and Olivier Giroud for Higuaín.
• Next up: Brighton at Stamford Bridge.
• KTBFFH!

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