Chelsea 4 (Chilwell 50, Zouma 66, Jorginho 78 (pen), and 82 (pen) v Crystal Palace 0Yellows: Chelsea: Azpilicueta, Kante. Played Saturday 3 October 2020, attendance nil.
This turned out to be a routine win for Chelsea and no upset for the bookmakers. For lacklustre Crystal Palace this was Manager Roy Hodgson’s 6th defeat in a row to the Blues. The match started slowly, and although there have been no goal-less draws in the last 18 of these fixtures it was looking that way up until the 50th minute. England left full back Ben Chilwell, who is settling in more quickly than some of the home Club’s other expensive new signings, broke the deadlock firing home a loose ball from close range. It too was he who also provided the assist when Kurt Zouma headed in his cross, the central defender having earlier missed from the full back’s accurate corner kick. More to come I am sure.
This more exciting half contained two more goals. They were both penalties scored by Jorginho. There was no controversy about the awards, the first when the Eagles’ young left back Tyrick Mitchell tripped Tammy Abraham, and the second when Mamadou Sakho brought down newcomer Kai Havertz. The controversy for me is around Jorginho’s penalty taking technique, and for that matter, that of Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, which involves a jump in the run up before shooting. This must surely be distracting and deceiving for the goalkeeper. Am I the only fan who thinks this is unprofessional and bordering on gamesmanship? Will a match day Referee ever blow for a foul and discipline the player? If so what would V.A.R. do about it?
We are now in the International break but when the F.A. Premier League (FAPL) is back on Saturday 17 October we shall have our next Premier London derby (PLDs) match when Tottenham Hotspur entertain West Ham United, but sadly still in an empty stadium.
Until then keep safe and remember “Face, Hands, Space”, Andrew at PLDs.