 |
| photo credit: @chelseafc on twitter |
i want to keep this brief, because it was a mostly uneventful game
In summary, we got progressively better as the game went on and we got our reward with two decent goals in the second half (with potential for even more) which turned out to be all we needed to get us to the final against Liverpool.
The first half was Palace's, we were slow to get into the game, I got the feeling we were trying to play things cautious and avoid conceding. The Eagles came into this game with a clever game plan, which almost came off for them but inevitably faded in the latter stages of the second half. We bossed possession in the first 45 minutes but we didn't do a lot with it, Werner made solid runs but we couldn't find the pass to him, and Palace mainly attempted to catch us on the counter while we were pushing forward with the wing-backs.
Jorginho wasn't amazing in the first half, he was so slow with the ball, off the ball he made a few questionable choices, and he rightfully got an absolute grilling from Tuchel after a mistake in a crucial area (which you could actually HEAR on the coverage despite being in a loud, packed out Wembley).
The fact that we wanted to play cautious and not attack from the off meant that James was once again deployed at RCB and was tasked with keeping Zaha quiet to nullify the Eagles' fast paced attacking players. This worked, though it meant that James had no chances to break down the right in his usual RWB role and send decent crosses in for players like Werner and Havertz to attack. Azpi filled the role perfectly fine, and had a good game too, but it's not really his most prolific position on the field.
Best chance of the half came from Kouyate, a decent volleyed effort that forced a good strong save from Mendy, and a follow-up rebound that struck the post. I think we were most relieved to end the half with the score still 0-0, and we were lucky to not concede early, as we really didn't get into gear in the first 45 minutes.
Second half was a stark contrast to the first, we came out looking a lot more energetic and wanting to push and press this Palace team.
Loftus-Cheek got a long overdue Chelsea goal when his half-volley took a deflection into the top right corner after some great work from Kai Havertz, somewhat redeeming himself after his dive in the first half. Not long after that Werner played a great pass into Mount who opened up his body and squeezed his shot into the bottom right for 2-0. It continues a good run of form for the duo, with Werner having 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games, while Mount has found the back of the net for the third game in a row.
With 10 minutes to go we were in total control, the Palace players looked to have given up, and whilst a 2-0 is more than enough, I think we could have gotten more goals, espeically at this point. We had the ball comfortably in the Palace half with plenty of options for goal oppurtunities. Lukaku had a goal on a plate from a great Werner cross but hit the bar, with Ziyech's rebound being blocked. Not long after that, Ziyech put in a great cross across the face of goal, with Lukaku not quite getting there in time to knock it in.
Either way, we got the job done; the final now becomes our most crucial, most important game for the rest of this season. We need revenge against Liverpool for the league cup final, and it'll be a great game to watch to finish up our season.