The victory brings Chelsea to the summit of the Premier League table and here, we shall have a rundown of four discussing aspects from the fixture.
#1 Man of the moment Olivier Giroud continues fine form
Last weekend, Frank Lampard made two changes from his team that played out a goalless draw against Tottenham Hotspur, with Havertz arriving in for Mateo Kovacic and Tammy Abraham replaced by Oliver Giroud.
The latter was the star of the show in midweek, scoring all four goals as Chelsea demolished Sevilla 4-0 on their turf. France International was rewarded by Frank Lampard for his excellent showing and Oliver Giroud took slightly more time to repay his faith. He displayed tremendous strength and awareness to take benefit of the cut-back by Reece James to level the scoreline. The former Arsenal man would have gotten a goal bit earlier, had Werner not inexplicably stopped his header from going in on the line.
This was the sixth goal of Oliver Giroud in his last 6 Premier League when he started as well as his 13th goal in his last 13 starts in all the tournament. In this aspect, it will be quite hard for Frank Lampard to keep overlooking him.
#2 The Blue army keeps marching on
It looks not too long ago when Chelsea grabbed a 3-3 draw with the recently-promoted West Brom at death, leading numerous to question their purposes after spending too much money in the market.
However, Lampard has gone about his duty diligently and a maximum of his new arrivals have settled adequately into their new surroundings, while Thiago Silva and Mendy have helped solidify the rearguard.
Since a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Matchday 2, Chelsea is yet to lose a game on regular time, with their only setback in this time coming in the penalty shootout failure to Tottenham in the League Cup. Their nine-game unbeaten run in the league has pushed them to the top of the table and considering how proportional and complete this team seems, it would take lots to stop Chelsea on their charge.
#3 Concerns on the injury setback of Hakim Ziyech
Hakim Ziyech has been one of the main contributors to Chelsea’s upturn in fortune, and it would have been an uncomfortable sight for supporters around the world to see him hobble off.
The retired Ajax man had arrived at Stamford Bridge postponing his debut. However, in little time he managed to make his effect felt, scoring two goals and giving three assists in his first two Premier League starts.
His understanding with Reece James on the right flank has been an important element of the attack of Chelsea and was again on a show for the opening goal of the club against Leeds.
He, however, looked to have injured his hamstring in that play’s passage and immediately signalled to the Chelsea bench to sub him off. Frank Lampard quickly displaced him with Pulisic and the Blues gaffer will necessarily be sweating on the severity of the injury.
#4 Presence of 2,000 Chelsea fans in the Stadium
It has been over 9 months since the precautions regarding the COVID-19 forced football to be halted in March. Since resumption, clear stadiums across England had become the new ordinary.
However, supporters were given a boost when the government of the UK reduced the restrictions and graded the cities into several tiers to increase the number of people permitted in a meeting.
The clubs in cities graded tiers 1 and tier 2 are permitted to have crowds while clubs in cities signified tier 3 are not yet enabled to have the gatherings.
Chelsea held a ballot to determine the lucky supporters who could come to Stamford Bridge and each one of them played their role to assure that they gave the stadium an atmospheric sentiment.
Despite being far minor in number, the fans still sang songs of the club and rattled the visiting players, particularly the defender Diego Llorente, whose every sense was booed throughout the game.
