The Eagles landed at Wembley full of colour and noise showing just how support should be done and even though the result did not go the way of Palace, we should be very proud of what we achieved on and off the pitch.
DATE
17th April 2022
RESULT
Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace
VENUE
Wembley Stadium, London HA9 0WS
OFFICIALS
Referee: Anthony Taylor, Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn, Fourth Official: David Coote, Reserve Assistant: Nick Hopton, VAR: John Brooks, AVAR: Daniel Robathan
DISCIPLINE
BOOKINGS – Kai Havertz (38)
RED CARD – none
GOALS
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (65), Mason Mount (76)
ASSISTS
Timo Werner (76)
TEB VERDICT
The biggest challenge for Patrick Vieira was to fill the void left by Conor Gallagher but he went with some surprise tactics which kept the opposition at bay even if it compromised our usual game. It was disappointing that after a decent first half from the Eagles, they failed to back that up in the second but there was no disgrace in the performance. Had we been more clinical with our chances, the best two falling to Cheikhou Kouyate, then things could well have been different, but there is no point looking back at what could have been. There are seven more games left to play and a top ten finish is very much in our sights.
PLAYER RATINGS
1 Jack Butland (6), 8 Cheikhou Kouyate (6), 16 Joachim Andersen (6), 6 Marc Guehi (7), 2 Joel Ward (6), 10 Eberechi Eze (6), 16 James McArthur (7), 15 Jeffrey Schlupp (6), 3 Tyrick Mitchell (6), 14 Jean-Philippe Mateta (6), 11 Wilfried Zaha (6)
SUBSTITUTES – 4 Luka Milivojevic (6 – replaced Kouyate), 5 James Tomkins, 7 Michael Olise (6 – replaced McArthur on 72 mins), 9 Jordan Ayew (6 – replaced Mateta on 55 mins), 13 Vicente Guaita, 17 Nathaniel Clyne, 20 Christian Benteke (6 – replaced Schlupp on 72 mins), 22 Odsonne Edouard, 34 Martin Kelly
OPPOSITION LINE-UP
16 Mendy, 24 James, 4 Christensen, 2 Rudiger, 28 Azpilicueta, 5 Jorginho, 8 Kovavic, 3 Alonso, 19 Mount, 29 Havertz, 11 Werner
SUBSTITUTES – 1 Arrizabalaga, 6 Thiago Silva (replaced Christensen on 82 mins), 7 Kante (replaced Jorginho on 77 mins), Lukaka (replaced Havertz on 77 mins), 10 Pulisic, 12 Loftus-Cheek (replaced Kovacic on 26 mins), 17 Saul, 22 Ziyech (replaced Mount on 77 mins), 31 Sarr
POST GAME QUOTES
PATRICK VIEIRA – “I don’t know if it was a fair reflection, in the first half we frustrated them a lot, we had chances and in the situation we could have played them better. Against these teams it is about taking your chances and we didn’t and they did.
I believe these sorts of games with a lot of tension will make us a better team. We had chances but didn’t score but we also didn’t give the ball at the right time sometimes.
We just have to keep going. This is the kind of game the players, manager and the club wants to get involved in. We have to keep building the team and working well. The fans were unbelievable today and thanks again to them for their support.
We were close but there is still a big gap between Chelsea and ourselves.”
THOMAS TUCHEL – “It was not easy because we played three games in three different competitions. It is not always easy, very challenging physically, we are the team with the most minutes in Europe I think, it is also challenging mentally.
I thought the performance was very controlled and very serious, we took care of their counterattacks. It was hard, the opponent changed system twice, you cannot lose focus for a minute.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Ruben Loftus-Cheek (7.7) as Mason Mount and Cheikhou Kouyate (3) had the most shots. The most tackles were made by Jorginho, Marc Guehi and Jeffrey Schlupp (4) while the most dribbles were by Loftus Cheek, James McArthur and Wilfried Zaha (2)
- Team rating: 6.91 – 6.26
- Total shots: 12 – 6
- Shots on target: 4 – 2
- Possession: 66.7% – 33.3%
- Pass success: 88% – 75%
- Passes: 641 – 316
- Dribbles: 7 – 7
- Aerials won: 16 – 12
- Tackles: 14 – 15
- Fouls: 16 – 6
- Corners: 5 – 2
- Saves: 2 – 2
- Dispossessed: 9 – 10
UPCOMING FIXTURES
20/04/22 Newcastle (a) – Premier League (7.45pm)
25/04/22 Leeds (h) – Premier League (8pm)
30/04/22 Southampton (a) – Premier League (3pm)
