Chelsea began the game as well as we finished the game on Saturday, and this time it was us who should’ve been ahead within five minutes. But Nicolas Jackson’s shot was cleared off the line after beating the goalkeeper, and Cole Palmer couldn’t quite direct the rebound on target from close range.
Undeterred, Chelsea kept pushing for the game’s opening goal, and considering Spurs’ recent foibles on defensive set pieces, it was perhaps no surprise that it arrived in precisely such a manner. Conor Gallagher flew a great ball to the far post, where Marc Cucurella set a good pick, and Trevoh Chalobah lofted a wonderful, Ivanonvic-esque header over the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and into the far top corner.
We pushed for a quick second, but Spurs grew into the game and after that we were happy just to get to the half still up by one.
The visitors built on that momentum after the break and pushed for the equalizer, with Chelsea happy to sit back and look for counters against the high line.
And that plan paid dividends halfway through the period, when Cucurella drew a foul just outside the box and Jackson was on hand to head on the rebound after Cole Palmer hit the underside of the bar with the excellently taken free kick.
Chelsea kept to that plan to the end, and for once, saw out a victory (and a clean sheet!) without too much trouble.
Carefree.
- A starting eleven that practically picked itself, with not a single senior first-team player on the bench outside the backup goalkeeper. 6 of the 9 subs in fact had zero first-team appearances to their name.
- Josh Acheampong makes his senior debut, replacing fellow Academy youngster Gilchrist at right back; Gilchrist was hobbling on his way off, hopefully just a cramp or a small knock
- Jackson has scored 4 of his 11 league goals against Spurs this season
- Chelsea move up to eighth, just two points behind Newcastle in seventh and three behind Manchester United in sixth. Four games to go for all four.
- Next up: West Ham on Sunday, the penultimate home game of the season
- KTBFFH
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