Willian’s excellent volley in the second half earned the Blues a much-needed victory over French side Lille in their second Champions’ League group stage encounter.
The Brazilian winger smashed in English substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross in the 77th minute after Victor Osimhen had canceled out Tammy Abraham’s opener to earn Chelsea the three points.
The West London outfit now sits third in their Group H following Ajax’s 3-0 over La Liga side Valencia. However, the worrying factor for Frank Lampard’s side is that they have kept just one clean sheet in 11 games under the 41-year-old and they still need to do one on their travels.
Lampard set up his team by going with the 3-4-2-1 formation and handed starts to 19-year-old Reece James and 21-year-old Fikayo Tomori, in defense.
Both the Chelsea young guns were impressive but Lille was a threat throughout the game and came close on several occasions in the second half giving Chelsea much to worry about.
20-year-old striker Victor Osimhen was recruited in the summer as a possible replacement for Nicolas Pepe who joined Arsenal and it was the Nigerian header which brought Lille level only 11 minutes after Tammy Abraham had given Chelsea the lead in the first half.
Kepa Arrizabalaga made another crucial save to deny Benjamin Andre’s header, and the Spanish keeper had a couple of nervous moments when he was forced to rush out to the edge of the box to stop quick counter-attacks from the home side.
For Chelsea, Jorginho smacked the outside of the right post with a curling effort in the first half and 20-year-old Mason Mount was denied from close range after the break. But Chelsea was the better side and arguably deserved the victory by getting their first away win of the Champions League through Willian.
