Chelsea has eased past Sevilla in the UEFA Champion League, courtesy of four goals by Olivier Giroud and in the procedure became merely the second English team to win against Sevilla. The Blues were completely dominating despite having nine changes to their first-team squad and after their 4-0 thumping, they will top Group E with one game remaining in hand.
Frank Lampard hinted before the game that he was going to provide some of the fringe players a chance, and he fulfilled just that as he made a whopping nine modifications to the team that drew against Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday.
The first goal by Oliver Giroud in the right minutes of the game enabled calm the nerves, and even though Sevilla passed it around very comfortably, they hardly terrorized the goal of Chelsea. The second half saw Chelsea quite more aggressive as they put up with the game to Sevilla and pressed the Spaniards high up the pitch to pose questions.
Oliver Giroud scored thrice in 30 second-half minutes to guarantee the points in what ultimately turned out to be a spectacular show by Chelsea.
The three talking points from the game are as follows:
#1 Olivier Giroud ageing like fine wine at Chelsea
The excellent hat-trick and then a neatly tucked-in penalty to cap off quite a night- Giroud is having joy in the twilight of his career, isn’t he? Not several predicted him to do good this late in his career, and even though there have been big rumours of him quitting Chelsea in January to expand his chance of starting for France in the Euros next year, he could still be a crucial part of the team in December.
The Frenchman is not the fastest of the players, but he brings up for it with his awareness of the game and composure. His finishing and movement for the opening two goals were just scintillating and his performance has put Lamaprd in jeopardy. The coach will have a tough decision regarding if he will prevent Giroud from leaving the club.
#2 Kai Havertz’s impressive display
In what was his initial beginning for Chelsea since late October, Kai Havertz impressed with a strong show. In his absence due to Covid, Hakim Ziyech established the stage on flame and was an in-form attacker for Chelsea. So greatly so that Havertz was almost a forgotten man.
The German is still to settle and needs more time, the display of last night will do him a world of good as he played a hand in the opener of Chelsea and did well off the ball.
Frank Lampard has positioned a lot of belief in Mason Mount because of his tenacity and off the ball work, and that is something Havertz will require to match to evolve as a player in the English prime flight.
In Sevilla, he governed to make the second-most tackles(three) after Cesar Azpilicueta, and that state will maybe make Frank Lampard happier than his goal contribution. From an attacking awareness, he accomplished 2 dribbles, the joint-most in the Chelsea team.
#3 A promising Chelsea backline against the Spanish Giant
The season of Chelsea started with all sorts of injury troubles and they just couldn’t stop acknowledging. A few months later, even their remade team can put no foot false.
Even without Kante safeguarding the changed centre-back pairing of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, Mendy was having a largely quiet game in the Chelsea goal as Seville strived to examine the Blues.
Chelsea has admitted only once in their five games in the Champions League, and that is an amazing showing for a side that was considered to have a soft underbelly by many lovers and pundits. The side of Lampard is becoming a more comprehensive unit with each passing game.
