Chelsea 3-0 Watford, Premier League: Post-match reaction

A painfully bad first-half was followed by a slightly less painful second-half as Chelsea notched an important victory in the penultimate match of the 2018-19 Premier League season.

Watford seemed to have the edge in effort, motivation, and aggression all game — aided to no small extent by the referee, as it often is — but Chelsea made two set pieces in quick succession count early in the second-half, and that was enough to make the telling difference.

Eden Hazard, possibly in his last home Premier League game, picked up both assists, on the short corner routine from which Loftus-Cheek scored (beating his old buddy Nathaniel Chalobah in the air), and on the more conventional corner from which David Luiz scored.

Higuaín, on the end of the latest of his typical short runs inside the area, added a third with 15 minutes to go, which made sure of the points.

Job done.

Carefree.

• Lineup largely as expected; Loftus-Cheek on as emergency sub for Kanté, then like-for-like with Giroud for Higuaín and Cahill (CAHILL!) for David Luiz.
• Nice gesture to get Cahill on, with Azpi giving him the armband.
• Kanté injury a big concern however.
• Chelsea undefeated when Jorginho wears a warrior headband/bandage
• Chelsea move into third with one game to go. Depending on how Arsenal do later today, we could be guaranteed a top four finish. United only managed a draw against Huddersfield, one of the worst teams to ever play Premier League football, and have been eliminated from top four contention.
• New shirts look much better in action.
• Next up: Europa League semifinal second leg on Thursday against Eintracht Frankfurt (1-1 at the moment)
• KTBFFH

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