Chelsea show incredible resilience to overcome Leicester with 10 men

A reaction was much expected from the blues after last week’s drubbing at the hands of Leeds United as Chelsea took on Leicester City at the Bridge. The blues came out of the dressing room with intent and made known their intentions with rapid pressure mounted on the foxes right from the start. With Chelsea having much of the possession and dominating territory, a moment of inexperience and rush of blood led the home side into a tight corner with Conor Gallagher making his first start at home receiving a worthy sending off after two bookable challenges.

Chelsea held on till the end of the first half after the 28th minute sending off of the academy graduate, it put huge pressure on Chelsea.

The second period kick-started with Leicester looking to get off the blocks and make the extra-man advantage work but it was the blues that took the lead after a solo Raheem Sterling effort deflected into Danny Ward’s goal to put the blues ahead. Brendan Rodgers in the Leicester City dugout reacted to Chelsea going ahead with a double substitution and the foxes cranked up the pressure on the blues goal before Chelsea got another breakaway with Kai and James combining well down the right before Recce James’s perfect low cross was met by Sterling at the back post to give Chelsea some breathing space.

The game would go ahead to end on a edge after Barnes pulled one back for Leicester with a power-drive that beat goalkeeper Edouard Mendy at his near post.

The game will go on to end 2-1 in favor of the blues as Leicester’s search for a win goes on.

Here are 4 lessons learned as Chelsea overcame a Leicester side which didn’t show signs of a team that hasn’t won all season.

◦ Gallagher’s unsuitability :

A player who showed like a million star on loan at crystal palace returned to his boyhood club with the hope of securing a place in the first team and with Kovaciç and Kante’s injury got thrust into action rather prematurely. Despite his struggle against Leeds, Gallagher was given the benefit of doubt to start against Leicester here and showed his unpreparedness at taking up a starter’s place here at Chelsea with a horror showing.

The former Palace loanee gave the ball away rather cheaply while under pressure at Leeds last weekend and while he started well here at the Bridge with a brilliant recovery tackle on Dewsbury-Hall in the early minutes of the contest at the Bridge.

Conor Gallagher would go on from that tackle to having a stinker with a needless challenge on Dewsbury-Hall taking him into the Referee’s book before a moment of madness while hoping to stop a Leicester City counter with a rash challenge on Harvey Barnes leaving the referee with no other option than to send him off Putting the team’s effort to jeopardy with over 60 minutes of football still to play. With Kante and Kovaciç’s constant time on the sidelines, it might be time for TT to begin the search for a new midfielder.

◦ Mendy’s Redemption? :

At fault for Leeds’ first goal last weekend, Mendy came up big this time around for Tuchel.
With a lot of pressure coming his way as a result of Leicester’s extra man advantage, Mendy showed why TT remains trusted in his ability.

Two one-on-one situations with Jamie Vardy brought back good memories of the Edou Mendy of Chelsea’s famous UCL triumphant campaign with the Senegalese often fast off his line to close up gap between the attacker and himself thereby limiting the amount of the goal the attacker has to aim for. Unfortunately Mendy’s kicking let him down again as Harvey Barnes capitalised on a poor goal kick and beat Mendy at his near post.

◦ Harvertz remains unrelenting :

With numbers (Goals and assist) an important metric for evaluating an attackers’ importance to his team, Kai has shown the desire to work his socks off while supporting the team in any way possible. With the early sending off of Gallagher, it was up to Kai to play as a lone striker while also needed to help relieve pressure of the blues with his hold up play. Kai did both duties diligently with an immense work-rate and attitude as the German didn’t stop pressuring and harassing the Leicester back line at every opportunity he got.

His touches did leave a bit to be desired with him having few opportunities where better first touches could have put him in decent positions to shoot and maybe make a pass but Kai certainly gives his all for the team and it’s only a matter of time before the German gets back to scoring goals and wining games for the blues.

◦ Silva’s impeccability;

Soon to be 38 and previously labeled “Finished” by rival fans, it remains a miracle seeing Thiago Silva play at the high standards he sets.

With TT changing to a hybrid system with four at the back at the start of the match, concerns were raised about how Silva could cope with Leicester’s pace up top but on every occasion Thiago Silva was called into action, the legendary Brazilian turned out equal or even better to the challenge as evident in having won 9/10 of his fuels while also ending the game without being dribbled past once.

With Leicester throwing the kitchen sink and all firepower at the blues’ rareguard, it was up to Silva and captain Azpilicueta to hold on tight and keep them at bay. The Brazilian came up to the rescue of the blues with a performance worthy of emulation as he put himself in the line of fire with 4 clearances, 2 blocked shots, and 5 tackles.

Man of the match; Thiago Silva 8/10

Next up for Chelsea is a trip to the Saints Mary stadium to take on Southampton on Tuesday.