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

Buoyed by the 10,000 in the stands, Chelsea came out with great effort, intention, and quality and played an almost perfect first-half that really should’ve seen us take a three- or four-goal lead into the break.

But Timo Werner had a goal ruled out for offside, a goal ruled out for handball, and a penalty not given for having the temerity to get kicked by Youri Tielemans in the Leicester City penalty area. Ben Chilwell, Mason Mount, and Christian Pulisic also came close to scoring as Chelsea dominated the first 45 and not just with inert possession. We created chance after chance, opening after opening, but Leicester continued to live their charmed life from the FA Cup final and survived.

Often, such first-halves are followed by disappointing second-half letdowns, but Chelsea quickly changed that narrative by bundling in a goal from a corner. And this time, it actually counted as Rudiger ran the ball in with his thigh from a yard out!

Chelsea kept up the relentless pressure and after a couple more half-chances, Timo Werner got a slice of luck as Mike Dean awarded a lazy foul by Fofana and VAR reviewed it to move the incident from outside to the inside of the area. Jorginho converted with his usual hop skip and a jump, making Schmeichel look powerless for once.

The Blues saw out the the first half of the 25 minutes remaining at that point without much problem, then shot ourselves in the foot by gifting a goal to Iheanacho to make the final 12-15 minutes a much more nervy affair.

But Chelsea eventually saw out the three points, complete with some touchline handbags.

Carefree.

• Just a few changes from Saturday’s FA Cup final, with Mendy back in goal, Chilwell on the left, and Pulisic in for Ziyech.
• James continues as right-center back against Vardy, with Azpi on the right.
• Havertz pre-match (hamstring?) injury sees Abraham back in the matchday squad
• Kante first-half injury a concern for the CL final. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious that can’t be managed in ten days.
• Mount left knee injury scare was not a happy moment; hopefully no damage
• It’s been a while since we scored from a corner
• Jorginho now our leading scorer in the league with 7 goals, all from the penalty spot!
• Chelsea move up to third and can finish there by beating Aston Villa on the final matchday this Sunday. Meanwhile, we’re guaranteed a top-four finish if either Liverpool or Leicester lose any of their remaining games.
• KTBFFH

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