Cruising to a 2-0 win before a brain-dead moment from returning captain Reece James, meant Mauricio Pochettino’s men had to fight hard to leave the south coast with a 1-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
A third consecutive victory over Roberto De Zerbi’s men (4/4 if you include pre-season) sees Chelsea leapfrog Newcastle into 5th place.
With a place in the Europa league almost sealed, we take a look at the performance of Trevoh Chalobah in tonight’s hard fought victory.
Leading the backline in the absence of Thiago Silva who got deserved a rest, academy graduate Chalobah locked down tricky attacker Joao Pedro for most parts of the game.
Trevoh’s recovery pace and brilliant timing of when to drop deep or push up aggressively (6 recoveries) meant Pedro barely got any change out of the former Lorient man while he spearheaded Brighton’s attack.
Chalobah often operated as the CCB in a 3-man backline which saw Cucurella invert into midfield while Gusto tucked into defence to form a 3-2 base structure in possession.
Chalobah’s brilliant tackling (3/4 tackles won tonight) when faced 1V1 centrally or in the channels meant Pedro had to switch sides on the pitch, and move over to the left wing, just so he could have more effect for Brighton.
Ball playing wise, Trevoh didn’t seem a liability as he accounted for 2 passes into the final third while having a 92% pass accuracy. After the sending off of captain Reece James, Trev continued his imperious showings as he won 5/6 ground duels, got dribbled past just once and made 9 clearances as Brighton laid a late siege on the Blues’ goal.
Considering the imminent departure of Thiago Silva and the uncertainty surrounding Wesley Fofana’s injury woes, speculation about the club’s decision to sanction the sale of Trevoh Chalobah seems irrational and a U-turn should be made after the superb showings of the 24-year old since his return to fitness. T
Trev’s leadership skills, availability and versatility all around the backline and defensive midfield is an added reason to consider him ‘untouchable’ this summer window.
With Victory against Bournemouth in the last game of the season on Sunday, all but confirming Chelsea’s place in next season’s Europa league, Mauricio Pochettino would look all the more likely to stay.
