Leicester City Held Chelsea at Draw at Stamford Bridge

DBasia.news –  Chelsea continued to fail to win in the early matches of the 2019-20 season. Latest, the Blues drew 1-1 against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge in the continuation week two of the Premier League, Sunday (18/8) WIB.

Previously, in the last two matches in all competitions, Chelsea lost 0-4 to Manchester United (Premier League) and 4-5 to Liverpool in the shootout, after an equal position of 2-2 in normal time, in the European Super Cup.

Not many changes were made by Frank Lampard from the team that played in the European Super Cup against Liverpool. The difference, this time Masoun Mount was played as a starter, while other players still remained the same as: Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante, and Christian Pulisic.

Brendan Rodgers, Leicester manager, fielded the 4-1-4-1 tactics by tapping the players in midfield. Wilfred Ndidi will be the coating for the Leicester back line. Up front, Leicester relied on Jamie Vardy.

The action has only been running for seven minutes, Chelsea are ahead at Stamford Bridge. Ndidi made a fatal mistake at reading the game, dribbling the ball for too long, so that Mount immediately grabbed the ball and struck the ball into Kasper Schmeichel’s goal. Chelsea won 1-0.

That advantage changed Chelsea’s game. They reduced the pressure and defended more, letting Leicester attack, to try to grab the ball and counterattack. As a result, Leicester has more control of the ball until the 30th minute.

Chelsea’s multi-layered defense has made it difficult for Leicester to score. The time expired to one minute of added time. The 1-0 score for the host’s lead.

The tempo of play in the second half also did not change. The first change was made by Lampard when pulling out Giroud on the 61 minutes and entering Tammy Abraham. Chelsea are still trying to score the second goal to secure the position.

It was not Chelsea, Leicester was the one who scored the equalizing goal on the 67 minutes. Starting from a corner taken by James Maddison, the ball was headed by Ndidi, outperforming Cesar Azpilicueta, and he paid his mistake with an equalizing goal position. 1-1.

Maddison almost silenced the host’s public when he created a golden opportunity on the 74 minutes. Working with one or two passes with Ayoze Perez, Maddison has passed three Chelsea defenders and kicked the ball into Kepa Arrizabalaga’s goal. However, his shot shot high above Chelsea’s crossbar.

The score hasn’t changed until the game remained in the last 10 minutes. Lampard has included two other substitutes, Mateo Kovacic and Willian. While Rodgers played Marc Albrighton and new recruit from Sampdoria, Dennis Praet.

Chelsea fans were truly startled during the end of the match. Leicester created several chances from a counterattack, including when Youri Tielemans’ hard strike was pushed over by Kepa. Chelsea also had difficulty in penetrating Leicester’s defense.

The four minutes of added time expired. The score ended in a 1-1 draw between Chelsea against Leicester. Lampard is still looking for his first win in the 2019-20 season.

Line-up:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Kepa Arrizabalaga; Emerson, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Cesar Azpilicueta; Jorginho (Mateo Kovacic 71 ‘), N’Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic (Willian 71’), Mason Mount, Pedro; Olivier Giroud (Tammy Abraham 61 ‘)

Manager: Frank Lampard

Leicester City (4-1-4-1): Kasper Schmeichel; Ricardo Pereira, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, Christian Fuchs; Wilfred Ndidi, Ayoze Perez (Marc Albrighton 80 ‘), Youri Tielemans, Hamza Choudhury (Dennis Praet 73’), James Maddison; Jamie Vardy

Manager: Brendan Rodgers