Cardiff City vs Chelsea Report: Chelsea Match Report

Chelsea beat Cardiff City 2-1, thanks to two goals in the final 10 minutes of action. Chelsea began this crucial encounter with star men Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante on the bench and this meant that both Ross Barkley and Pedro were given an opportunity from the start by manager Maurizio Sarri.

They began moving the ball well and despite having much of the ball in the opening stages of the half, the Cardiff defence stood strong and didn’t really allow the Chelsea runners any space in the final third to work their usual magic.

They kept the ball in the midfield area and with some good play from Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley, Chelsea were able to move Cardiff around while their attacking players tried to carve open space in what looked like a fairly adamant defensive line.

Cardiff were also a threat on the break throughout the opening minutes despite Chelsea’s apparent domination on the ball. With the Blues pushing for the opening goal, whenever Cardiff stole possession, they had good potential to create a counter-attack.

Chelsea began to step up their game but the absence of Eden Hazard was starting to become quite glaring as they seemed to lack any kind of creativity once the ball entered the final third. Jorginho was getting caught in possession while Gonzalo Higuain was crying out for some service.

As the teams went into half-time, Cardiff were definitely the happier side, having managed to keep the Blues at bay for a little over 45 minutes. The second period proved to be a much bigger challenge although they didn’t start it very badly at all.

They moved the ball quickly down the left flank and a low cross into the box was met beautifully by an approaching Victor Camarasa, whose shot gave Chelsea keeper Kepa Arizzabalaga absolutely no chance of even getting a finger on it.

With the home side in the lead, Maurizio Sarri had to take drastic measures and he responded by throwing on Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard and English midfield sensation Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who all had an immediate impact on the game.

Chelsea began to push for the goal that would bring them back into the game and despite constant pressure on the Cardiff defence right from the 60th minute, it was finally in the 84th minute that the Blues got their first goal of the night.

A Chelsea corner was delivered from the right and a flick at the near-post by Marcos Alonso found Cesar Azpilicueta in the middle of the box and the Spaniard nodded home to make it 1-1. Despite his starting position being quite clearly off-side, an error from the linesman had potentially cost Cardiff this fixture.

In the 90th minute though, the 4th official confirmed that there would be 7 minutes of stoppage considering the bookings and substitutions. This was enough for Chelsea to find the second goal as another cross from the left was met by Loftus-Cheek.

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The Englishman broke Cardiff hearts and headed home to make it 2-1 on the night despite the massive effort put in by the home side.

Rather undeservedly, Sarri’s men were able to fight out a tight 2-1 win against relegation-stricken Cardiff City, thanks to an offside goal.