Chelsea has began their 2018/19 English Premier league season on a good note, as they saw off a stubborn Huddersfield side 3-0 to claim their first win under their new manager, Maurizio Sarri.
The former Champions playing under their new manager reverted to 4-3-3 with David Luiz, Rudiger, Alonso and the captain of the day Cesar Azpilicueta all at the back for Chelsea.
The likes of Beckley, Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup winner, N’golo Kante, and new signing Jorginho, Willain, Pedro, and Morata completing the squad while goalkeeper Kepa was given his debut.
Chelsea started well as expected, and though there were few scares as Huddersfield took the game to the former Champions, but failed to give Chelsea goalkeeper a real test, as Chelsea gather momentum to score their first goal through Kante. The second goal came from a spot kick, after Alonso was adjudged to have been illegally brought down in the box, and new signing Jorginho stepped up to net home a cool finish.
The introduction of Eden Hazard gave Chelsea more firepower, as the Belgian ripped off Huddersfield defense to put a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Pedro and the Spaniard deftly lifts it over the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.
Though it was not the clean passage of football we did expect from the highly rated and respected manager such as Sarri, his Chelsea team showed some signs of sharpness both on and off the ball, which can only improve as the season progressed further.
The Italian during his post-match briefing said the first half was hard for them, particularly for 15 minutes, and the scoreline didn’t reflect the game against a very physical team. He says it got easier after the break.
Sarri says there is room for improvement all over the pitch, particularly in pressing against three defenders and moving the ball quicker, which has always wanted the boys to do.
On why Eden Hazard started off from the bench, he said the Belgium captain is not fit enough to play for 90 minutes at the moment, and the best for him today was to play for 15 or 20 minutes when the opponents would likely be tired.
On his view of the Premier League compared to Serie A, he said the Premier League is very different compared to Serie A from a physical point of view, and if there had been an Italian referee there could have been 15 more fouls today.
Chelsea will be playing at home next as they face Arsenal in their second game next week at the Bridge.