How The Blues Messed Things Up Against Roma!!
Chelsea and Roma had settled for a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge in a evenly matched contest. Chelsea had struggled to keep possession in whole of the match but Hazard’s brace had saved their night somehow. Antonio Conte had preferred to play with a 3-5-1-1 formation against a strong Roma side. Thibaut Courtois had started in the Goal. Azpilicueta, Christensen and Cahill were the three central defenders on the pitch. Alonso and Zappacosta were chosen as two wingbacks. David Luiz was added with Fabregas and Bakayoko in the midfield to recover the presence of Kante who is currently out of the squad due to a Grade A hamstring injury. Hazard was trying to pair up with Morata to lead the Chelsea attack from the upfront.
On the other hand, Roma manager Eusebio De Francesco had fielded his team with a 4-3-3 formation. Allison had started in the Goal for Roma. Kolarov, Juan Jesus,Fazio and Bruno Peres had started in defense. Nainggolan, Gonalons and Strootman was in the three man midfield while Perotti and Gerson were helping Edin Dzeko in the attacking third of Roma.
David Luiz had given Chelsea the vital lead at the 11th minute of the first half with a brilliant strike from 20 yards outside the box. Eden Hazard doubled the lead for Chelsea at 37th minute of the match pairing with Alvaro Morata. Chelsea had got several chances in the first half but they were not able to convert them in goals due to lack of finishing. Aleksandar Kolarov had taken on Azpilicueta and cut back into the penalty box of Chelsea at 40th minute of the match. His brilliant strike had given Roma the hope of coming back in the match. The first half had ended with Chelsea leading by 2-1 margin at the break.
The dressing room talking points were changed for both the teams after the goal of Kolarov at the final end of first half. Roma were looking desperate to equalise the scoreline and Chelsea were not looking very confident at their defensive area. David Luiz was taken off at 57th minute of the match due to a calf injury at the first half.
Pedro had taken his place in the field. But this had opened up the Chelsea defense completely as there were no blocking in the midfield present there. A brilliant ball was provided by Fazio from the midline of the pitch towards Edin Dzeko and his volley had completely stunned Thibaut Courtois. After getting the equalising Goal Roma were desperate to take the lead in the match.
At 70th minute of the match, Kolarov provided another beautiful ball to Edin Dzeko who had scored his second goal of the night to give Roma the edge of the match. But soon Chelsea had come back in the match when Hazard beautifully placed the ball towards the Goal from the brilliant cross provided by Pedro at 75th minute of the match. Both teams had made two substitutes each but it doesn’t make an impact in the match. The exciting contest at West London had ended with a 3-3 stalemate.
With this draw Chelsea remained at top of the table of Group C with 7 points from 3 encounters so far. Roma is situated at the second place with 5 points with the same number of matches played. The sides will again meet each other on 1st Novemberat Roma’s home ground.
Editor’s View: The Arsenal-Win Boost-
The win against Arsenal will have given the Hornets a lot of confidence that they can beat the so called “big” teams in the Premier League and will face the champions of England, with a lot more confidence. It will be interesting to see which kind of tactics the Italian manager employs against his opponents at the weekend.
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