Chelsea defeated Leicester to maintain their 100% winning record this season. While this match’s buildup was catalyzed by the return of Didier Drogba, it is the new boys Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa who will dominate the headlines after. Against a very tough Leicester side who proved to be a hard-nut to crack amid squandering some decent opportunities, Chelsea shown why most of the pundits are ranking them to be crowned as Champions next May.
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Here are the 5 talking points from this match:-
Diego Costa is IN
Having scored two goals in 4 minutes in pre-season followed by one against Burnley at his Chelsea debut, another goal in this match seen an impressive applause from Roman Ibrahimovich. While the Spaniard had only played 2 official games for Chelsea, he seemed to have the confidence Fernando Torres couldn’t generate in 2 seasons. While he was a bit off the color in the first half spoiling chances, it seemed he knew he would get the goal as his celebration suggested. So surely the striker problem is solved as far as Chelsea are concerned.
Oscar the new main-man
Last season it was Eden Hazard and Oscar who kept Chelsea abroad even when their strikers were not firing. However in this match, it was the Brazilian who provided a sublime performance whereas it was an off-day for Hazard by his standards apart from the goal he has scored. From his pass to Branislav Ivanovic that eventually created the goal, to his simple but pin-point pass to Cesc Fabregas to free him one-on-one against the keeper, Oscar is my man of the match for Chelsea against a very tough Leicester. Hazard also had a very good match but in batches, however it was Oscar who proved to be the continuous chance generating machine for Chelsea.
Chelsea are fluid
While no one can under-mine the defense Chelsea has now, it looks like the Parked Bus taunts are far away. With a brigade of world class midfielders in their ranks, it seems Mourinho has shifted his Chelsea into next gear last season, Chelsea were the better defensive team here however, they did provided some one-on-one chances to Nugent who failed to capitalize. SO unlike last season, there were some gaps in between the Chelsea defense which Mourinho certainly looks to perish in his next game. While Chelsea created an array of chances last season, unlike last season however, they given the opposition some very serious opportunities. So yes they are fluid, but they need to be solid at the back.
Courtois is in
They talk about when you hit the ground, hit it running however in the case of Courtois, he hit the ground like a solid wall that allowed no-body to go off him. While his base in the Chelsea camp isn’t very solid yet with Petr Cech looming if or when anything goes wrong with the Belgian defensive antics, he proved why the talent spotter in Jose Mourinho put faith in him as the Chelsea number one. If you look at both of the saves he’s made today one-on-one against the same man, the Spanish golden glove winner might prove to be a standstill in Chelsea goal during the next 10 months. And keeping in mind the number of saves he had to made to keep his clean sheet board immaculate, it was a brilliant performance from the Belgian
Legend Drogba is back
It seemed like we had rolled back the years when a certain Drogba was making his debut for the Blues in 2004-05 season where he was talked upon more due to the money being spent for him, it was exactly the opposite as Chelsea fans greeted arguably the best Chelsea player of the last decade. Every pass of his was cheered by a huge roar by the fans and certainly Drogba has come home.
Amir Bashir follow him on Twitter.
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